Congrats! It's a Girl!
by Divagirl2
Summary: She stared back up at him with wide and curious forest green eyes. What really alarmed Wally however, was the small pink duffle bag she held onto. What the...? "I'm Arlynn. My mommy told me to give this to you." She recited, holding up an enclosed envelope. Wally blinked. What was going on?
1. Chapter 1

_Well that sucked._

Wally arrived at his apartment in Palo Alto around one am, his usual lively emerald eyes tired and dull as he walked to his lone bedroom, dead in every aspect but the literal. The intervention by he, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Jim Harper, and Black Canary on Red Arrow had proven to be a total bust. In all honesty, Wally hadn't been expecting it to fully work, but he had at least hoped that RA would _listen_. Though he logically knew that it was no one's fault that Roy had decided to go down the path he was on, Wally couldn't help the guilt stirring in his gut at being unable to help. Even if this Roy wasn't the original, he was still his _friend._ Wally just wished he knew a way to get through to him somehow.

Upon entering his room and seeing his bed- _his_ _beautiful, sacred_ _bed_ \- he hardly took the time to kick off his shoes before ungracefully collapsing face first in it. His unarranged pillows and messy sheets cushioned his fall as the mattress springs creaked loudly under his weight. Wally paid no mind to it though, eyes already closed as he gratefully and unhesitantly accepted his welcome into the sweet world of oblivion.

 **Beep! Beep! Beep!**

His fist slammed down onto his alarm clock with an intentional unnecessary amount of force. Groaning, the 21 year old opened a sleepy green eye, turning his head to groggily glance at the time. _5_ _:30_ , it read. Wha...? Hadn't he just laid down like a minute ago? And anyway, why was his clock even set- oh. He looked at the date also displayed on his alarm clock, it was a _Friday_ , which for Wally meant an early 7:00 Physics class at Stanford University. He moaned miserably, briefly contemplating the pros and cons of ditching his first class of the day. In the end, the cons out weighed the pros and Wally begrudgingly decided to get up. It took him twenty minutes to get ready instead of his usual ten, considering his quick (and involuntary) catnap in the shower that was _supposed_ to wake him up. Wally even drank coffee (drowned in cream and sugar, of course) which was usually something he'd _never_ do since in Dick's words, caffeine made him act like a "crazed squirrel hyped on a thousand types of energy drinks and drugs". It didn't do much for him today though, well aside from helping him feel a _little_ less on the verge of passing out with each step.

Throwing on a coat to shield him from the cool late winter breeze, Wally made his way out the door, beginning the short trek to Stanford. He was just about there when he realized that he hadn't locked the door behind him _and_ he had forgotten his bag _and_ his laptop. With an exasperated sigh, and all the while questioning his intelligence, he turned around and made his way back to his apartment, grabbing the aforementioned items and locking his door behind him before making his way back to the university. He had to sprint (normally) that time, since the walk there was about twenty five minutes. He made it in about 15 minutes, just five minutes before his class started.

Attending his Physics class turned out to be practically pointless, since he ended up sleeping through the whole lecture. At 10 he had French, which- _surprise, surprise_ \- had a written test he didn't study for and probably failed, miserably he might add. All in all, it was turning out to be a pretty fan-friggin'-tastic day. The rest of his classes passed in a blur, probably because everything he heard today went in one ear and out the other and at 4 he was finally, _finally_ done. He went to walking straight to his apartment, fully prepared to pick up right where he left off in terms of sleep when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Wally glanced at the caller ID and saw the image of a young, beautiful, dark-haired Asian-American woman, her red lips curled in a shy yet attractive smile. Underneath the picture, was the name 'Linda Park'.

Wally smiled, his mood lightening as he answered the phone, "Hey, babe," he greeted his girlfriend of two years, "What's up?"

 _"Wally."_ Linda sounded relieved and slightly annoyed, _"I've been calling you. Are you on your way here?"_

Wally furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "What? No, I just got out of class. On my way where?"

 _"Wh-_ _"_ Linda paused and sighed on the other end. Wally could imagine her pinching the bridge of her nose, a habit she usually did with him. _"Dinner, Wally. Remember? We got reservations at this new Italian place I wanted to try at 4:30 because it was so booked for any other time."_

Wally blinked, none of that ringing any type of bell for him.

Linda sighed again, this time with more exasperation, _"...Valentine's Day?"_

A bulb went off. "Oh!" Wally exclaimed, " _Valentine's Day!_ That's- that's today, isn't it? Of course it is! I-I totally remember that! And the reservations at 4:30! Right!"

 _"...You forgot again, didn't you?"_ Linda asked, resigned.

"What-pft! Pft! No! 'Course not!" Wally lied unconvincingly, "I was just making sure that-that _you_ remembered!...As you always do. Anyway, yeah. I'm uh, I'm heading there right now with, with flowers and...um, _chocolates_!"

 _"You know I hate Valentine's Day chocolates, Wally."_

"Flowers and _teddy bears_ then!" Wally amended, "Well bear, teddy _bear._ Not plural."

 _"Wally..."_ Linda groaned.

"Babe! I'll be there! Listen, I gotta go now. Not I'm in any rush or anything just- you know what? I'll see you in a bit! Bye!" Wally hung up before Linda had any chance of a reply and mentally berated himself as he took off in a normal sprint towards his apartment with a new burst of energy. Great, now he had to change, buy flowers and a teddy bear, _and_ meet Linda at the restaurant in less than half an hour.

...Never before had he been more grateful for superspeed.

He made it to the place with exactly 30 seconds to spare, walking in through the glass doors to see Linda arguing with the reservationist.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry but if all members of the party aren't here then we'll have to give up your table." the reservationist said calmly, seemingly unphased by Linda's rising irritation.

"But he'll be here! It's not even 4:31 yet, so technically he's not even late!"

Wally walked up behind his girlfriend, gently clearing his throat as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Linda turned around quickly, her dark hair hitting her face from the whiplash. She glared at Wally half-heartedly as she tossed her hair back over her shoulder, it's ebony color contrasting perfectly with her long elegant form-fitting rose red dress.

"Cutting it a _little_ close, aren't we?" she said, though her tone had more relief than bite in it. She turned back around, smirking triumphantly at the reservationist, "All members of my party are here." she said, almost mockingly.

The reservationist stared at Linda with what could've been a glare, had he not been so professional before pulling out two menus from his stand, passing it to an awaiting waitress who gestured for Wally and Linda to follow her. She led the two to a white clothed table, clearly suited for two with the silverware wrapped neatly in an identical white cloth napkin on either side of the table and a scentless candle lit in the middle.

"Thank you." Linda said, the waitress clearly taking this as her temporary dismissal as she nodded once before heading off to check on other customers. Wally smiled cheekily as he handed Linda a bouquet of red roses and a small brown teddy bear holding a red heart that had 'I love you' stitched into it.

"Happy Valentine's Day...?"

"Mm. Flattery has stopped working for you long ago, sir." Linda replied, though she gave Wally a peck on the cheek as a commemoration of thanks. She sat down, Wally doing likewise adjacent from her.

Placing the bouquet and teddy bear aside, Linda leaned forward, resting her head in her slender hands as she looked at Wally. Her black gazing deeply into Wally's green.

"So..." she began, "What's up with you? You look like the dead." she stated blatantly.

Wally sighed, running a hand over his face as he didn't even try to deny it, "Yeah. Well I feel ten times worse."

Linda furrowed her eyebrows in concern, leaning back and fiddling with her dress, "Hey, if you want to go home-"

"I'll live," Wally cut her off, "Trust me, I've had worse."

Linda met his gaze once again, amusement dancing in her eyes as a corner of her mouth tilted upward, "Well I certainly don't want to see what _worse_ looks like."

Wally smirked at the jab, raising a hand to clutch at his chest in feigned hurt, "Ouch. That's harsh."

Linda's expression grew serious once more, "But really, Wally. You look terrible. What happened?"

"School's been...rough." Wally lied easily, a small pang of guilt coming to his chest that was easy enough to ignore.

"Like you've been getting jumped or...?"

"Har, har. No, no it's just...the workload is crazy, you know. Especially Professor Thompson's class, _whew._ And I'm just having trouble catching up after my...illness last week." His "illness" being an overseas mission to Italy to stop some sort of crazy plot from happening, but Linda didn't need to know that.

"Yeah, well. Wish I could say I could help but college isn't really an issue for me." Linda had gone straight into an internship for a news station after graduating high school, now trying her very best to work her way up the ranks to a full-blown news reporter. "If you need anything else though, call me or I _will_ cause you bodily harm."

"Noted."

The waitress came back then, apologizing for the delay and asking if they were ready to order their meal and drinks.

"Um yes, actually." Linda replied, browsing through her menu, "For the drink, I'll think I'll have a glass of Cabernet Franc and I'll try the um, Chicken Fettuccine." She neatly closed her menu and handed it to the waitress.

Wally, who had been looking through his own menu as Linda spoke, looked at the waitress as she drew her attention to him, "Yeah. Um, I'll get a water and a Spaghetti." He flipped his own menu closed and gave it to the waitress.

She nodded and once she left, Linda gave Wally a look.

"What?" he asked.

"Water and a Spaghetti?" Linda said with a raised eyebrow.

"They were the cheapest things on the menu!" Wally replied defensively, "I mean, a red wine and fettuccine? Did you even _look_ at the prices?"

Linda snorted, "Wally, you're younger than me. Stop sounding like an old man."

"Two years is hardly a difference!" Wally replied, "And besides, _this_ old man _likes_ cash in his wallet and on his card."

"We'll be fine." Linda replied. The two spent the next twenty minutes engaging in small talk until their food arrived.

Wally ate his meal eagerly, only just then remembering that the only other thing he'd had for sustenance that day was an overly sweetened cup of coffee, while Linda picked at her plate, taking a few small bites before placing her fork with a small clank on the table.

"This tastes awful." she declared.

Wally agreed through a mouthful of food, "I don' know how 'ey messed up 'agetti." he said.

Linda wrinkled her nose at his poor manners, "Wally, that's gross." she said but nodded in agreement, "The chicken in my fettuccine has a weird texture and the pasta itself is just _gross_. Heck, even the wine doesn't taste right. I'm calling for the check."

Wally nodded again as he swallowed his food and chugged down his glass of water as Linda got the waitress' attention. Fifteen minutes later, the two were out of the restaurant and walking towards Linda's car.

"I can't believe you walked all this way." Linda said as she fished in her purse for her keys, pressing the button to unlock her vehicle after retrieving them.

Wally shrugged, "Eh, wasn't too bad."

"How'd you manage to make it _on time_?" Linda asked incredulously as she climbed into the driver's seat and shut the door behind her. Wally got into the passenger's seat and did likewise, "I may have done a bit of light sprinting on the way too." he replied.

"Unbelievable." Linda started her car and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Where to?" Wally asked.

"McDonalds." Linda replied, "After this disaster, I just want a bacon cheeseburger."

"I'm not a religious man babe, but amen to that."

Linda chuckled and swatted at Wally's arm playfully, "God, you're so stupid."

Their second dinner of the night at McDonald's turned out to be much better than the first. Linda, as promised, enjoyed a bacon cheeseburger and an Oreo Mcflurry while Wally had two Big Macs and a chocolate milkshake. He was working on his third burger when he noticed Linda's appalled yet amused stare on him.

"Wha?" he said through a mouthful of food.

Linda smirked, resting her head in the palm of one hand, "It's a wonder how you haven't yet been the star of an episode of _My 600_ _Pound Life_."

"...Shu' up."

It was a quarter till nine when Wally arrived back at his apartment, feeling even more drained than before. He collapsed on his couch first thing, too lazy to even make it to his bedroom. Sparing a quick glance at his backpack where he knew he had the syllabus for that paper in French he needed to finish by the following Monday and the notes for that test in Government next Friday he needed to study for, Wally stuffed his face in his couch pillow. Honestly, he just felt so done with it all right now and only wanted at least a solid eight hours of rest. His eyes to slipped closed as he allowed his mind to drift slowly back into oblivion when-

 **Ding, dong!**

Wally opened his eyes, letting out a small growl of frustration as he got up, walking over to his front door and not even bothering to peep through the eyehole before opening the door.

He blinked upon seeing no one there. Then he sighed, frustrated as he began to close the door, "You've got to be kidding me." he grumbled.

"Um...excuse me?"

Wally paused in his actions and shocked, he glanced down to see a girl, who looked to be really young, about four years of age if he had to guess. She stared up at him with wide emerald eyes, the light dusting of faded freckles on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose mostly concealed by her light olive skin tone. Her hair was blonde, falling in a golden cascade to her mid-back from its high side ponytail.

What really alarmed Wally however, was the small pink duffle bag she held onto.

 _What the...?_

"I'm Arlynn. My mommy told me to give this to you." She recited, holding up an enclosed envelope.

Wally blinked. _What was going on?_

 **You know, it only occurred me just _now_ after writing this chapter that February 14th, 2016 (which is the date this first chapter starts on) was on a _Sunday_ instead of a Friday. So, yeah, that little discrepancy bothered me but, you know, it's called Fan _fiction_ for a reason so we'll just pretend. Anyway, hope you guys liked the (rewritten) chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

Wally stared at the kid, gaze filled with a mixture of confusion and exasperation. He sighed then (something that was becoming a regular habit these days) and ran a hand over his face, "Look, kid. I think you've got the wrong place."

The kid-Arlynn, she said her name was- stared back at Wally, her own gaze inquisitive as she tilted her head slightly, "Nuh-uh." she said, digging in the pocket of her bubblegum pink jogger pants with her hand that wasn't holding a duffel bag. She pulled out a small crinkled paper, smoothing it out on her pant leg before showing it to Wally.

"My mommy gave this to me. This is your address, right?" she asked. Wally took the paper, taking a moment to decipher the chicken scratch. To his horror and confusion, it was his address. Great, another problem to deal with. Why was the universe so against him getting any rest?

"Okay...ignoring how creepy and disturbing this is, where is your mom now anyway? And how'd she find out my addre-no scratch that, I don't wanna know. Just answer the first question."

"She left." Arlynn replied.

Wally blinked, "She...left? Left where?" he asked incredulously. What kind of mom left their preschool-aged child on the doorstep of some stranger at night?

Arlynn pointed to the right, "She left that way." she answered.

"Okay, do you have any idea of where she's going _exactly_?" Wally asked.

Arlynn shook her head, "No."

"Do you know why she left?" Wally pushed.

"No." Arlynn answered again, her grip on her duffel bag tightening.

"Do you know why she left you with me?"

"No!" Arlynn exclaimed, frustrated at her lack of answers and Wally's bombard of questions. Wally went quiet, startled by her outburst before his gaze became somewhat calculating.

"Is this some type of weird selling tactic for girl scout cookies or something?" he asked suspiciously.

Arlynn rolled her eyes, "How'd you guess? Yes, Mister. My mommy left me on the doorstep of some annoying weirdo's apartment at night with a bag and a letter all just to sell some cookies that I don't even have. Hit that right on the hammer." she replied.

"Nail." Wally said.

Arlynn raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"It's hit that right on the _nail_. You know since a hammer is used to..." He trailed off as Arlynn gave him a deadpanned look. "Nevermind." Wally noticed as Arlynn gave a small, barely perceptible shiver, the cool winter breeze breaching the warmth of her black hoodie. He sighed, hesitantly opening his door wider as a reluctant invitation to enter. Apparently the concept of stranger danger was foreign to the girl as she accepted the invitation quickly, walking into the small living area of Wally's apartment and dropping her bag carelessly to the floor.

Wally followed, closing and locking the front door behind him. He sighed, internally giving up the concept of sleep anytime soon as he sat back on the couch.

"Okay so...you said your mom had a letter right?" he asked. Arlynn nodded, handing him the aforementioned object.

"Alright," Wally said, placing the letter aside, he'd read it later after this kid was back with her mom or CPS or...something. "Anyway, got any relatives you can call to pick you up or something? Preferably by tonight?"

Arlynn shook her head.

"Great..." Wally groaned. At least tomorrow was the weekend. The two sat in awkward silence for a while, Arlynn subconsciously twirling strands of her hair in her fingers as Wally drifted in his thoughts. He should probably call someone right? Like the police or CPS or literally anyone else who was actually qualified to deal with a situation like this. He knew he should and he would, but he just couldn't ignore the nagging feeling of curiosity at the back of his thoughts. Why had this girl's mother just suddenly dropped her daughter off at his place specifically and then take off? Who even was this girl's mother? How did she know where he lived? And what was in this letter the kid had given him?

Wally had plenty of questions, all of which he had no way of answering...well all but one. He glanced at the sealed envelope at his side, no doubt holding at least some type of information that would give him some answers.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a light poke on the cheek. Instinctively, he swatted the hand away.

"Stop that." he said, glaring at the girl.

"Just making sure you weren't dead," Arlynn replied, "You were staring at the wall for a while."

"I was thinking." Wally said.

"About what?"

"Stuff." Wally answered vaguely.

"Whatever," Arlynn replied, "Um...Mister?" she asked.

"What?"

"Can you...are you gonna find my mommy?"

"Um, well...not me, per say..." Wally said.

Arlynn tilted her head curiously, "Then who?"

"Um..." Wally tried to think of a good phrasing for the CPS, "Some nice people are gonna come and pick you up so that they can take care of you until they find your mom, they're really good at dealing with these kind of things and-"

"You're gonna call the people in suits to take me away?" Arlynn interrupted.

Wally stared at her, shocked that she knew what he was talking about, "Um...well, I wouldn't call it that but..." He trailed seeing that the kid wasn't buying it. "Er...you've met them before?"

Arlynn shook her head, "Not me. But I saw them take my neighbor Tony and his baby sister, Leah, away after their mommy and daddy had to go with the police for selling bad candy. Tony was my friend and, well, I didn't see him again after that."

Bad candy? "Oh. Uh, sorry to hear that, kid." Wally said as an awkward reassurance.

"I don't wanna go with them." Arlynn said, ignoring his consoling efforts in favor of getting back to the original subject.

Wally frowned at her stubbornness, "Why?" he asked, more irritated than anything. He just wanted to sleep.

Arlynn crossed her arms, scowling stubbornly, "Because I don't wanna." she reiterated.

Wally's eye twitched in annoyance, "Not really a valid answer, kid."

"Well then because I _really_ don't wanna."

Wally chose to disregard her comment, "Well tough luck, kid, 'cause you can't stay here." he said, internally wincing at the gruffness of the statement but standing by it nonetheless. After all, there was no way _he_ could take care of the kid. For one, he had no idea who she was and did not need to be dealing with a missing child's case if whoever the kid's father is didn't approve of her mother's little stork drop-off act. And two, he simply lacked the desire and resources to provide necessary care for the five year old.

"Why not?" Arlynn demanded.

"Because I don't wanna." Wally quipped, smirking at the annoyed glare he got in return.

"But it'll only be until my mommy comes back." Arlynn tried to defend her case.

"If your mom comes back, you mean."

That statement appeared to have struck a chord in Arlynn, "Don't be a dummy. Of course she'll come back! And she won't be able to find me if I'm not where she left me!"

"Nope, kid. Not happening. No way. Sorry." Wally replied, shutting down her train of thought immediately.

"Fine then," Wally watched as the girl walked over to her bag, picking it up once again. "I'm going." she declared.

Wally stood up from his spot as she approached the door, "Going? Going where?" he asked, "It's thirty five degrees out. You won't get far in this cold."

"I'll manage. And I'm going to find my mommy. She can't have gotten too far yet." Arlynn said, balancing on the tips of her toes to reach the doorknob.

"Um, no kid, you aren't." Wally replied, walking over and closing the door just as Arlynn got it open. Geez, he wanted the kid gone, not dead. There was no way he could let her go right now in that weather, "Because you're not going."

Arlynn whipped her head around, green eyes narrowed in an intense glare, "Why not?"

"Because, like I just said, it's near below freezing outside _and_ it's dark out. The neighborhood I'm in is no Gotham City, but it has some creepos of it's own lurking around. What if one of them grabs you or...something?" Wally asked, trying his best to break through to the girl.

Arlynn beamed confidently, "Then I'll _mace_ them." she declared. Wally blinked.

"You...what? You have mace?" he asked bewilderedly.

Arlynn nodded, unzipping a small pocket on her duffel bag and pulling out the small can, "Mmhm! My mommy taught me how to use it!" Arlynn explained, as if it were some completely common occurrence for a four year old to be carrying around pepper spray. Wally stayed silent, unsure of how to react. Now he _really_ wanted to know who this kid's mom was. Belatedly he also wondered if he should, I don't know, be trying to take it away from her or something?

Arlynn seemed to inadvertently answer Wally's last thought for herself, as she tucked the spray back into her bag and zipped up the pocket. She stared up at Wally, gaze impatient and expecting, "So can I go now?" she asked, tapping her foot rapidly against the hardwood floor.

"Uh, yeah no, kid." Wally said.

Arlynn groaned in frustration, her already short line of patience thinning further, "Well you don't want me here and I'm not going with the suits, so what do you wanna do?!"

Wally sighed. He couldn't call the CPS now, it was late and it would definitely take them a longer time to get here because of it. Plus, Wally was sure that if he tried to force Arlynn to wait, she would make a break for it. Maybe though, if he called them in the morning while the kid was still asleep... A lightbulb went off in his mind.

"Fine." Wally said.

Arlynn's glare turned into a look of surprise, "What?" she asked.

"You can stay here, but only for the night. We'll deal with the rest in the morning." Wally explained.

Instead of receiving the expected reaction of joy and excitement, Wally received a suspicious stare from the girl. "Why?" she asked.

"Because I'm tired and don't feel like dealing with a kid right now." Wally answered. There, it probably wasn't the truth the kid was looking for, but it wasn't exactly a lie either.

Arlynn seemed to buy it, "I'm not a kid." she retorted.

"Yeah, try saying that when you can stand past my waist, kid."

Arlynn chose not to dignify that with a verbal response, instead rolling her eyes as she tried (and failed) to stifle a wide yawn.

And that was how two hours later, Wally found himself on the couch with a blanket as the kid slept peacefully in his bed. Despite the fact that Wally had been planning to crash on the couch anyway only a few hours ago, he couldn't help the small twinge of annoyance that came with having to give up his bed- his precious, sacred bed- to a random kid. It wouldn't have felt right taking it for himself though, random (and slightly annoying) kid or not, she was just that, a kid. A kid who was desperate to get back to a mother who practically abandoned her for no good reason as far as Wally could tell and okay, _maybe_ he felt a little bad for her as well. The thought of calling the CPS first thing in the morning to come get her probably made Wally feel more guilty than it should've, but what else could he do? She was a child not a pet, he couldn't just choose to keep her like a stray! Plus, there had to be someone who was responsible for the kid other than her mother. Instantly the girl's father popped into mind but Wally dismissed the thought. He couldn't say for sure, but based off of his short interactions with the kid, he didn't think that the man had an active role in her life. So...a grandfather maybe? A grandmother? An aunt or uncle? Heck, an adult cousin? Wally rubbed at his temples, feeling a stress migraine building up. Why was he so worked up over it anyway? When he called the CPS first thing in the morning, _they'd_ take the kid and handle all the details. He had nothing to worry about, right?

Right.

Efficiently having had calmed his mind for the time being, Wally laid down, only to sit back up briefly as he heard the crinkling of a paper. He picked up the now slightly crinkled envelope, still perfectly sealed.

...Huh. He had completely forgotten about that.

After unsealing the envelope, Wally pulled out the letter, unfolding it. It couldn't hurt to get a quick sneak peek for curiosity's sake right?

 _Hey,_

 _Listen, I've never been one for small talk so I'll just cut right to the chase. She's yours, well, mine...ours? Arlynn is, I mean. And no Baywatch, before you even think of something so stupid like if this is all some sort of twisted joke, it's not. I know it's crazy and you probably have a whole load of questions you want to ask but I'm gonna need you to suck it up and write them down on paper for now since I'm, you know, absent at the moment. As for where I am, well, I can't exactly say, not on paper anyway. I'm so sorry for kinda just throwing this on you like this but...I need your help. Well, I guess the more accurate term would be I need a babysitter. Arlynn, she's...ours, like_ ours _, and I...she has nowhere else to go. Where I am, I couldn't exactly bring her with me so I figured bringing her to you would be the next best thing since you're her...you know. How the hell am I even rambling on paper? I'll summarize, Arlynn is our kid, I have to go away for a bit, and I need you to watch her until I get back. Oh yeah, and if so much as a single hair on her head gets harmed while she's in your care, I'll-you know what? I don't know what I'll do, but I promise it'll be painful._

 _P.S. If you haven't figured it out yet, this is Artemis._

Wally blinked, and then read the paper again. Then again. Then one more time just to be sure. Then another time to be sure that he was sure. The letter slipped out of his hands, gently drifting to the floor and landing silently.

...

...

... _WHAT?_

Wally stared blankly at the wall, unsure of how to react. Did he want to faint? Yell? Have a mild panic attack? A mixture of all three? He didn't know. Wally didn't know much of anything anymore.

' _She's yours, well, mine...ours? Arlynn is, I mean.'_

Was this a joke?

' _And no Baywatch, before you even think of something so stupid like if this is all some sort of twisted joke, it's not.'_

What...but how...?

 _'If you haven't figured it out yet, this is Artemis.'_

Artemis had disappeared five years ago, right after... _oh, God_.

'Arlynn is our kid _'_ _'_

 _Arlynn is **our kid'**_ _'_

 _Arlynn is **OUR KID'**_

Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod...

This is...this wasn't real, right? Wally pinched himself and twisted as hard as he could. _Wake up, West. Wake UP, West! WAKE UP, WEST!_

He didn't wake up.

... _WHY WASN'T HE WAKING UP?!_

Wally stood up, and not sure of what else to do, he started pacing. He ran his now-sweaty hand through his hair, over his face, chewed his nails.

 _Was this real?_

 _No_ , Wally reasoned, _No. It couldn't be because he and Artemis had only...you know, once! A-a-and he had worn PROTECTION! An-and he was only twenty one and Arlynn was five and he had a girlfriend and he went to University and he hadn't even graduated with his friggin' degree yet! Plus he was only partially retired so he still went on missions every now and then and even with that, it was hard enough to spend time with Linda, let alone raise a friggin' KID!_

No. No this wasn't real because it _couldn't be._ Because Wally couldn't _afford_ it to be. He had just began his life and now a...a _kid?!_ No. Nonononononononononono. **NO.** Maybe...maybe this was fake, you know? Just...just some of twisted prank. Maybe the kid was, I don't know, some sort of child actress or something and soon Dick or someone would jump out and yell ' _Gotcha!_ ' Then Wally would yell and punch them in the face and tell them to get out before he did much worse. Yeah. Yeah, that had to be it.

So Wally waited. And waited. And waited more and more and more and then some. Nothing happened. _Nothing happened_.

 _Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodnononononononononono..._

How was...how was he supposed to explain this to Linda? To his parents? To anyone?!

 _You don't have to explain anything to anyone yet_ , a small part of his brain, the logical part, whispered, _Because you don't_ know _anything yet. You don't know if this letter is really from Artemis, and if it is, you don't know if she's telling the truth._

Yes, that's right. Wally _didn't_ know anything yet. For all he knew, the letter could be from a complete stranger ( _nevermind that they somehow knew to use the exact nickname she used to call you,_ a more cynical part of his brain mentioned) and Arlynn, well, maybe _she_ was a complete stranger too. They were no ways of telling if she was his just by being in her presence, and she had certainly shown no recognition of _him_ ( _probably because she's never seen or met you before either, you dimwit!_ ). Wally cursed his metabolism in that particular moment, knowing that an aspirin would do nothing to help his raging migraine now.

He sat back on the couch, running his pale fingers through his short fiery red locks once more before leaning forward and putting his face into his hands. He was being irrational, he knew. Just because he'd gotten a letter from someone who may or may not be Artemis claiming that a kid he had only met a few hours ago was actually his secret love child didn't mean it was true. In fact, come to think of it, that sounded _pretty_ far-fetched.

Still though, Wally couldn't exactly let these accusations go unfounded.

 _Why me?_ He wondered. Did the gods ( _or god, Wally didn't know, he wasn't exactly religious_ ) hate him or something? He hoped not, he had enough on his plate already.

Chances were, the kid wasn't even _his_. Wally had worn protection on he and Artemis'...ahem, _encounter_ all those years ago, he was _sure_ of it. However...it couldn't hurt just to get confirmation right? Maybe he'd let the kid stick around for a bit, probably only the weekend so that he had enough time to take a paternity test and get the expected negative results. Then he'd send her off with the CPS and try his very best to forget this night ever happened. Linda wouldn't have to know, nor would his parents, or anyone. Soon, this would all just simply be a bad (and slightly embarrassing) memory.


	3. Chapter 3

Wally didn't sleep very well that night.

He was up until the early hours of the morning, doing anything he could to keep his mind busy and off of... _everything_. He typed and revised his French paper, reread the letter from not-Artemis, went over his Government notes, reread the not-Artemis letter, pondered on how eff'ed up his life was at the moment, read the not-Artemis letter _again_ , checked on Arlynn (more to see if she was actually _there_ and existent than if she was still asleep), crumbled up the not-Artemis letter and threw it away, paced anxiously throughout his small living room so fast that he accidentally burned holes in the carpet, stressed over _that_ for a bit, sat back down, played angry birds for a while, checked on Arlynn again, and watched Netflix on his phone until he finally passed out from sheer exhaustion roughly around 3:30.

"...ter? Mister? Mister. Mister!" a young, irritatingly persistent voice was what woke Wally up only a few hours later. ... _What?_ In his half-asleep state, his thoughts were muddled and confused. _A kid? How did a kid get into my-oh, right._

The events of the prior night caught up to him and Wally wanted to either yell in frustration, or cry in despair. So it wasn't just a nightmare as he had hoped...

He pushed himself into a sitting position, and rubbed at a sleepy green eye with a balled fist, "...Kid? What is it?" He yawned. Glancing down at the girl, he saw that her emerald eyes had an almost panicked glint in them as she stared with wide eyes up at him. Instantly, Wally was on high alert.

"What happened?" Before she had a chance to answer, Wally sniffed the air, a very distinctive scent reaching his nostrils, "Is that...smoke?"

Arlynn nodded frantically, "I didn't _mean_ to! I promise! I was just trying to...and then the...and now it's on fire and I tried to pour water on it but it only got bigger and-"

Wally didn't stick around to hear the rest of the explanation as he sprinted to where the source of the smell was coming from: the kitchen. The fire on one of his appliances wasn't huge, but it certainly wasn't a small spark. Making his way over to the cabinets which were thankfully a reasonable distance away from the fire, Wally pulled out a mini fire extinguisher and after making sure it was correct and not expired, he sprayed it's contents on the appliance.

The fire went out, leaving only the foul smell of smoke and the burnt remains of the appliance.

"My toaster..." Wally moaned, staring pitifully at the destroyed appliance. He heard the small pitter patter of footsteps as Arlynn approached him from behind.

"What. Happened." he asked, well, growled, would be more accurate.

"Um...the toaster caught on fire?"

Wally inhaled deeply and pinched the bridge the nose as he exhaled slowly, "Yeah. I got that much out of it, kid. _How_ _?_ "

"Well...I was making toast and...I think it didn't like me very much."

Wally glanced angrily back at Arlynn, who stared stubbornly at her bare feet for a while before guiltily meeting his gaze, "...Sorry?"

Wally clenched his fists as he grit his teeth in annoyance, " _Kid_ ," he sighed upon seeing Arlynn's kicked puppy expression, his own features softening, "Just...ask for help next time. And never, _ever_ try to use water to put out an electrical fire, 'kay kid?" _This is only gonna be for a short while, Walls. This is only gonna be for a short while..._

She nodded and hesitated only briefly before speaking again, "Arlynn."

Wally blinked, "What?" he asked confusedly.

"Arlynn, not "kid". That's all you've been calling me since I got here." she explained.

"O-oh. Sorry ki- ahem, _Arlynn_. Um, well if we're addressing names then stop calling me "Mister". I'm 21, not 30. Just Wally's fine."

Arlynn gave him a small smile, "Alright then, Wally. Sorry about your toaster."

"Yeah, I'll never know how you managed to set it on fire by trying to make a piece of _toast_ , but don't stress over it. I can buy a new one...eventually." Wally replied, giving Arlynn a small, reassuring grin.

Arlynn sat at the small dining room table a short while later, doodling on a piece of paper with a few colored ink pens that Wally had scrounged up from his bag.

 _("_ _You don't have any crayons?"_

 _"...Do I look like a kindergartener to you?"_

 _"Well..."_

 _"Just shut up and entertain yourself while I find us something to eat."_ _)_

And so he did. As Wally searched his kitchen for any non-toaster related breakfast food, he found that he was in desperate need of grocery shopping. Aside from a couple packets of instant ramen, some canned chicken noodle soups, half a bag of Chicken Whizzies , and a box of Frosted Flakes, his pantry was completely empty.

 _Man, I didn't realize I'd been so busy to forget food shopping..._

Making a mental note to do that sometime soon, Wally pulled out the box of Frosted Flakes, finding one of his few clean bowls ( _I need to do the dishes too,_ he noted as he eyed the kitchen sink, almost overflowing with dirty silverware, cups, plates, and bowls). He rinsed the bowl as an extra safety measure before filling it with cereal, opening the fridge in search of milk. Like his pantry, it was almost completely empty, save for a few (probably bad) takeout leftovers and _aha_ _!_ Wally took out the quarter gallon of whole milk, checking it for an expiration date. _Huh. It says it expired two days ago, but maybe it's still-eck! Definitely not!_ Wally wrinkled his nose at the foul smell of the milk before pouring it down the sink drain. Grabbing a clean spoon and putting it in the bowl of dry Frosted Flakes, he placed it in front of Arlynn.

"Alright kid, _bon appetit_."

Arlynn took no time in picking up the spoon and eating the cereal, seemingly taking no heed in the fact that it was dry. Wally raised an eyebrow at that, but took the win as he sat across from her and grabbed a handful of Frosted Flakes straight from the box, stuffing it into his mouth.

The two ate in silence for a while before Wally decided to finally address the elephant in the room.

"So...ki-Arlynn?"

Arlynn perked up at her name, her curious green eyes meeting his nervous and somewhat anxious ones.

"We should probably talk."

Arlynn blinked and took a moment to swallow her food before answering, "About what?"

Wally scratched the back of his neck nervously, "I mean, everything would probably be a good start."

Arlynn tapped her chin in contemplation for a brief moment, "You want to know why I'm here." she said. It wasn't phrased as a question but Wally answered anyway.

"Well, yeah. And where the hel- _heck_ is your mom?" He wasn't supposed to curse in front of children, right?

"I told you already, _I don't know_." Arlynn replied.

"Arlynn, come on. Your mom had to have given you _some_ reason for bringing you here." Wally pushed. He knew he was sounding desperate but well, he _was_ desperate. The words of the not-Artemis letter were ingrained into his mind, echoing throughout his thoughts right along with the 'what ifs' and 'maybes' and he wanted, no he _needed_ to hear something, _anything_ that would disprove even a portion of it.

"Um, well she didn't tell me where she was going and when I asked, Mommy said it was a secret. Then I asked if I could go too and she said no 'cause I'm too little. Then Mommy told me to pack my things 'cause I was going away to another place for a bit 'till she picked me up." Arlynn said.

 _Well that was completely unhelpful. It seems Arlynn knows less about what's going on than I do._

"Well did she say _when_ she was coming to get you?" Wally asked in an attempt to get some kind of useful information out of her.

Arlynn shook her head, "Not exactly, but when I asked if she'd be back before my birthday, she said she would."

"And when's your birthday?"

"September 1st."

Wally sighed, running a hand over his face. It was February 15th. _Well at least you know she won't be here forever_ , the optimistic part of his brain supplied. _Yeah 'cause having to put your whole life on hold for almost a whole friggin' year is so much better_ , the cynical part countered.

 _Don't get overzealous here_. Ah...there it was, logic. _You still don't know if she's even yours._

Paternity test. Right.

...

How did this become his life?

"Sorry I don't know more, Wally," Arlynn apologized, looking very guilty for her part, "Mommy's _really_ good at keeping secrets. A lot better than I am."

Wally gave a small, partially forced smile, "Don't stress over it."

Arlynn raised an eyebrow, "Well you sure look like _you're_ stressing over it."

"I'm not, I just-" Wally cut off his lie, knowing that it would do him no good since he could hardly believe _himself_ at the moment. He opted instead to change back to the subject, "What about your..." Wally paused, reluctant to finish his own question, "your dad?"

Arlynn finished another bite of her cereal before replying, "Oh, I don't have one."

Wally's heart dropped.

"...You don't?"

Arlynn shook her head, "No, it's always just been me and mommy. I mean, Brad was there for a little bit and then there was Todd but-"

"I'm sorry, _Brad_ and _Todd?_ " Wally asked, he wasn't sure why that was what caught his attention the most.

"Yeah. They were Mommy's douchebag boyfriends. Neither of them lasted very long." Arlynn said matter-of-factly.

Wally had to stifle an amused snort at Arlynn's nickname for the two, "And why do I get the sneaking impression that _you_ had something to do with that?" he asked.

Arlynn shrugged as she shifted her gaze to a wall on her right, "I dunno what you're talking about." she lied.

Wally chuckled, "Of course not." he replied. His amusement died down quickly enough however, as he came to a realization.

 _"Um, well she didn't tell me where she was going and when I asked, Mommy said it was a secret."_

 _'_ _As for where I am, well, I can't exactly say...'_

 _"Then Mommy told me to pack my things 'cause I was going away to another place for a bit 'till she picked me up."_

 _'...I need you to watch her until I get back.'_

Their stories matched. Sure, the not-Artemis' version included more detail but in the overall gist of things...

 _Maybe...maybe it's just a coincidence._

Yeah, that's it. That _had_ to be it.

 _"_... _it's always just been me and mommy._ _"_

 _'Arlynn, she's...ours.'_

This was all just a coincidence. It had to be. This was all just a badly-timed, strangely-accurate coincidence.

"Wally."

Wally jumped slightly in his seat at the sudden voice.

Arlynn raised an eyebrow at his strange reaction, "Are you okay? You're being weird." she stated bluntly.

And there was that rising headache again, "I'm fine." Wally lied.

Arlynn wasn't convinced, "You don't look-"

" _I'm fine._ " Wally repeated more firmly.

Arlynn rolled her eyes as she finished the last of her cereal, "Whatever." Picking up her bowl, she slid out of her seat and stood on the tips of her toes as she placed it in the sink atop all of the overflowing dishes. Wally glanced at the girl. She was still clad in the same pink jogger pants and black hoodie from the night prior, though they were wrinkled from sleep. Her hair was also a mess, having had fallen half out of its side ponytail with several tangled strands of her golden hair hanging loosely to her waist.

She turned around, meeting his gaze evenly as she crossed her arms, "So what now?" she asked.

"What?"

"What now?" Arlynn repeated, "You said that I could only stay for the night and we'd figure things out in the morning."

 _Oh. I did say that, didn't I?_

"Um, well, I, uh..." Wally fumbled over his words, "I've decided that you uh...you can stay. For the weekend that is." Once again Wally had to ask himself, _how was this his life?_

" _Really?_ " Arlynn asked, no small amount of suspicion in her tone.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I just...I just thought, you know, since you have nowhere else to go for the moment-and you really don't have _anywhere else_ to go right?"

Arlynn shook her head.

"Well, yeah, I figured, you know that, you know, you're a kid and I'm...not, a kid that is. And you were left on my doorstep in the first place so I have to hold some sort of responsibility for you even if I'm _completely_ the wrong person to have it and-" Wally paused briefly before he drifted even deeper into his ramblings, "Ahem. My main point is that I should...I should probably erm... _confirm_ some things before sending you off on your way, is all."

Arlynn stared at Wally blankly, silently relaying the message that she had no clue if what just came out of his mouth was even remotely _english._ "...Okay...?" she said unsurely, "And after you "confirm" or whatever, I can just go?"

"Uh..." Wally hesitated briefly in his answer, really not wanting to have to lie a little kid, but did he really have a choice? Based off of their brief conversation from the night prior of Wally calling the CPS (or as Arlynn called them, "the people in suits"), Arlynn would not react very well _at all_ to him telling her the truth of that being his exact plan of what to do if-no, _when_ -the negative paternity results came in. "Uh, yeah. Sure." Wally said quickly. Technically, it wasn't a _complete_ lie, she would go...just with other, experienced adults to a home or...wherever else they take kids in these kind of situations. As the guilt inside him bubbled up at the thought (which Wally totally didn't understand since he was doing the _right thing_ ), he decided to quickly change the subject.

"So, anyway, why don't you go and get washed up and dressed? We're going out."

Arlynn drew her gaze to her hands as she fiddled with her fingers, "Um, I don't have any other clothes."

"... _What?_ "

"I don't have any other-"

"No, I heard what you said. I just-I don't-didn't you say that your mom told you to pack your things?"

"I _did_ pack my things." Arlynn replied.

"And did your things not consist of _clothes_?"

"Of course they did."

"And you didn't think it was important to _pack them_?"

"I mean, I thought it maybe could've been important-"

" _Maybe?_ "

"-but then I wouldn't have been able to fit my other things in my bag."

"What other things?"

Arlynn's face scrunched up in an adorable look of concentration as she tried to remember the contents of her bag, "Um...well I _had_ to bring Mr. Teddy and Mrs. Unicorn and since they both get grouchy without their tea set I had to bring that too. And then I packed my toothbrush and my sparkly princess toothpaste and _oh!_ Did you know my toothbrush could _sing?!_ Anyway, I also brought my favorite Bella Ballerina shoes 'cause they make me spin 'round and 'round and 'round really fast if I want to. And I also brought my blanket and my special pillow since I don't sleep very good without them."

Wally blinked, "And those are what you deemed _important?_ " he deadpanned.

For her part, Arlynn looked genuinely confused at what Wally found so unbelievable about it and Wally couldn't bring himself to feel anything more than mild irritation towards the girl. She was only four, after all, and it wasn't really her fault. Whoever this kid's mom was should've known to supervise or at least check her packing afterwards.

"Fine. _Fine._ This is-this is okay. This is...I can work with this." Wally said, more so to himself than Arlynn. Man, once this whole thing was done and over with, Wally would make it his personal mission to _never_ have any kids. Here he was babysitting one for a single weekend and he was already fairly sure that he was greying. "I have an idea."

"This is stupid." Wally heard Arlynn call out to him a short while later as he finished with his daily hygiene and changed into a fresh pair of clothes. He emerged from his bedroom, making his way to the living room.

"Well kid, it's the best I could do on short convenience so- _oh._ " Wally's eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of Arlynn. The girl's hair was still damp from the shower she had taken and hung limply down to her waist, slightly wetting the back of the largely oversized t-shirt she wore. Wally had been sure to choose one of his smallest t-shirts, yet on Arlynn the short sleeves still reached her elbows and kept slipping off her shoulders, much to Arlynn's annoyance. It fell to past her knees, nearly reaching her mid-calf and leaving only a bit of her jogger pants (she had stubbornly protested to keep those on) visible. Couple that with the adorable scowl she wore, and she looked like a kitten drowned in clothing.

Wally had to stifle a laugh.

Arlynn bristled at that. "It's not funny!"

"Right, right. Of course not." Wally replied, fighting to keep the amused grin off of his face.

" _It's not!_ "

Wally raised his hands defensively, "I didn't say it was!"

"But you were _thinking_ it!" Arlynn retorted. She then crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously, "Isn't there anything _else_ that I can wear?"

"Oh come on, Arlynn. It's not _that_ bad." Wally said.

"I look like a game of dress-up gone wrong," Arlynn protested, "If my hoodie weren't so stinky, I'd've worn that instead."

"Well...I can't disagree with you there, but it'll be a quick trip. Promise."

Arlynn huffed, still not fully convinced, "Can't I stay _here_?" she whined.

"Er...no. Besides the fact that you're four, and well _five_ , I'm pretty sure that it'd be breaking some kind of law leaving you alone. Plus, I don't need you setting anything else on fire and I'm not around."

"I said I was sorry..."

"Yeah and I forgave, but I didn't forget. Now put on some shoes."

Arlynn huffed, but slipped into the skechers she wore the night before, "Where are we even going, anyway?"

"Nowhere fun, I can promise you that."


	4. Chapter 4

"Can I have this?"

"No."

"What about this?"

"No."

"Can I have this, then?"

"N-- what are you even doing with that?!"

Snatching the item from Arlynn, Wally quickly replaced the box of condoms onto its rightful place on the shelf, ignoring her indignant cry of protest. He turned around, levelling the child with an annoyed glare.

"Don't. Touch. Anything."

Arlynn was unphased as she threw her head back with a dramatic sigh, "But I'm boooooored!"

Wally turned back around in pursuit of an item, making sure to keep watchful glances on Arlynn.

"I noticed." he said, moving onto the next aisle and checking to make sure the girl had followed.

"Can't we go to another store? This one is boring."

"What Walgreens have you ever been to that's _fun_?"

Arlynn sighed dramatically once more before falling quiet in a silent pout. Wally spared one last glance at her before drawing his gaze back to the shelves in search of an item.

"Where do they keep those things?" He muttered. Sparing a quick glance over his shoulder at the empty isle, Wally crouched down and began looking at the lower shelves.

 _Wait._

Wally whipped his head back around at the _empty isle_.

 _Crap._

He stood up, eyes scanning the surrounding area frantically.

"Kid?" he called. His heart just about stopped when he didn't recieve a reply. His walk sped up into a jog as he entered another isle.

"Kid!" He was yelling now, and people were beginning to stare, but Wally didn't care. Crap, he hadn't even had the kid for a full day and now he'd lost her.

" _Kid! Arlynn!_ "

Then he heard a small, young, and relievingly familiar voice call out from an aisle nearby.

"Yeah?"

Wally just about sprinted to meet her, a wave of pure relief washing over him as he spotted the familiar head of golden hair.

"God, kid..." Wally sighed, "Don't...don't you _ever_ do that again."

"'Kay!" Arlynn chirped, though it was obvious that she wasn't sure of what she had even done wrong.

"I found the toys!" she proclaimed excitedly, she then held up a small plain brown bear with a red bow that Wally hadn't even realized she'd been holding, "Hey, can I have this?"

Wally stared at the girl, relief giving way to frustration and annoyance.

"You-" Wally cut himself off to avoid saying something he knew he would regret. Taking a breath, he tried again, "Fine. You know what? _Fine._ You can have the toy, just...stay close, alright?"

Arlynn nodded with a wide grin, "'Kay!"

Wally wasn't convinced, "Arlynn, I'm serious."

"I know."

"Do not go _anywhere._ And I mean anywhere _at all_."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"I won't go anywhere."

"Arlynn..."

"Wally!"

The two engaged in a brief stare off before Wally had to blink. He turned and started to walk off, expecting Arlynn to follow before thinking better of it and grabbing her hand.

"I'm not a baby." Arlynn protested though she made no real move to pull away.

"Yes. But you are a puppy. A hyperactive, wandering puppy, and I don't have a leash so this'll have to do."

It only took a few more minutes of roaming the aisles for Wally to finally find the dreaded item he was looking for.

"Pat..ter...ni...ty?" Arlynn read off the box. She looked up at Wally with a confused frown, "What's a patter-nity test, Wally?" she asked.

"Paternity." Wally corrected automatically, quickly drawing his gaze off of the object as he placed it into the small shopping basket he held in his other hand, "And it's not important."

Arlynn seemed to have forgotten her question already as she played with her bear. A fact that Wally was relieved for since if he had learned anything about Arlynn in short time he had known her, it was that she liked to ask questions, questions that Wally definitely did not have the desire or patience to answer at the moment.

He walked to the register at the front of the store, ignoring the cashier's skeptical look as he paid for the two items.

He and Arlynn walked back out of the Walgreens store and headed towards the bus stop, Arlynn thankfully unbothered by the cold despite the fact that her current attire was an oversized t-shirt and jogger pants.

"I'm gonna name him Bear." Arlynn proclaimed as she held out her new stuffed toy.

Wally spared the girl a side glance, "Bear?"

"Mmhm."

"So you have a Mr. Teddy, Ms. Unicorn, and now a Bear?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Wally shrugged, "Well I thought that kids your age were supposed to be a little more, I don't know, creative."

Arlynn glared at the older man, "I _am_ creative!" she protested.

"You're naming your teddy bear Bear." Wally deadpanned.

Arlynn gave him a look as if he were a complete idiot, "He's a bear, Wally. What else would I name him?"

"Yeah? Well _you're_ a human and that's not your name. You could name him, like, Fluffy or something."

"Fluffy is a stupid name."

"At least it's creative."

"Creativity is stupid then."

"Geez, you're a little pessimistic for a four year old."

"I'm not a pest!"

"That's not what that-" Wally paused upon the absurd realization that he was arguing with a five year old on what to name her stuffed toy, "Forget it. Bear it is, then."

"I don't know, he looks more like a Fluffy to me..."

"Okay, _now_ you're a pest." Wally didn't take the time to hear Arlynn's most likely indignant reply as they approached the bus stop. Still keeping a grip on her hand, he walked over to the bulletin, looking at the day's bus times.

"Dammit, we just missed it." he muttered, more to himself than Arlynn.

"Dammit." Arlynn echoed.

Wally took his gaze off the bulletin to stare at the child with wide eyes. _Okay, note to self: Don't curse in front of the kid._ "Um...let's not repeat that, 'kay?"

Arlynn shrugged, "So what do we do now?"

"Um, we wait, I guess." Wally replied.

"For how long?"

Wally glanced at the bus schedule once again, "About half an hour."

"How long is that?"

"Thirty minutes."

"That sounds like a really long time."

"It'll fly by." Wally lied, just as much to himself as he did Arlynn.

"Has it been thirty minutes yet?" Arlynn asked.

Wally gave the child a strange look, "No?"

"Like I said, a _really_ long time." Arlynn repeated as she flopped down on the bench dramatically.

Wally rolled his eyes as he sat next to her, taking out his phone in an attempt to pass the time. The two sat like that for a while, Arlynn quietly playing with her toy as Wally beat (or demolished, really) through levels of angry birds on his phone.

...Well, maybe saying they were like that for a ' _while'_ was a bit much...

"I'm bored." Arlynn declared after five minutes. Wally wasn't so surprised at the declaration than he was at Arlynn for taking so long to say it.

"Then entertain yourself." Wally replied.

"Can I play on your phone?"

"What? No. I'm about to beat this lev-- dam--darn it! Why won't this one stupid pig die?!"

Arlynn sighed her grip on her bear tight as she stared around aimlessly at her surroundings. A loud playful child's squeal caught her attention and Arlynn glanced to see a small (and slightly rundown) park a few blocks down the other side of the street.

"Can I play there then?" Arlynn asked, pointing a finger at the aforementioned location. Wally glanced up from his phone and his haze followed the direction of her finger.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because if you've watched any horror movie _ever_ , the park is always the place the kid gets taken."

"That, or the bus stop," Arlynn retorted, "Besides, it's only down the street, I can just-"

"No."

"But-"

" _No._ "

Arlynn crossed her arms as she let out an indignant huff, "Fine. Wouldn't expect an old man like you to have any fun anyway..." she grumbled.

 _That_ statement was enough to make Wally to forget all about using virtual birds as projectiles to kill green pigs.

"I'm sorry, did you just call me an _old man_?"

Arlynn shrugged.

"Kid, I'm _literally_ 21."

Arlynn raised an eyebrow, "And I'm _literally_ four."

"Okay, that's not--sure I may be _olde_ _r_ than you, but that doesn't mean I'm _old_."

"Whatever you say."

"I--you--I'm not old!"

"Sure."

"I'm not!"

"Okay."

"Are--are you patronizing me right now? Am I being patronized?"

"I don't know what that means." Arlynn replied honestly.

"You totally are!" Wally continued, ignoring Arlynn's statement, "I'll have you know that most would consider me very young."

"Yep, the older ones always do."

Wally balked, "You little-- you know what? You want to go to the park? Fine! We'll go to the park! But if we miss the next bus, that's completely on you!"

Arlynn beamed, "Okay!" Wally watched as she checked briefly to see the road was clear before skipping across it, making her way to the ..park. As he began to follow, an epiphany suddenly struck him.

 _Did I just get played by a four year old?_

To Wally's (not) surprise, they ended up missing the bus. Again. And it also started raining. Pouring, actually.

"This isn't my fault." Arlynn insisted, holding Fluffy close to her chest as she tucked him under her shirt.

Wally sighed as a car went by, driving through a large puddle and drenching him completely. Luckily he was able to get his shopping bag out of the way. Hopefully his phone was okay...

"Except, yeah, it is." Wally replied, no small amount of bitterness in his tone.

"How is it _my_ fault that _you_ weren't paying attention?" Arlynn said, accusation in her tone.

"Well maybe I would have been paying attention if you hadn't had decided to pull another disappearing act!"

"I was playing _hide and seek_!"

"What part of 'the park is always the place the kid gets taken' don't you _understand_?! If I hadn't had been so occupied with trying to find you, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"

"Oh, so now the _rain_ is my fault?!"

"Us being caught out in it is!"

Arlynn huffed, "Well maybe if you had a _car_ like a normal person, we wouldn't be having this problem." she grumbled.

Wally turned around to glare at the girl, "Oh don't you _dare_ try to turn this around on me." he hissed.

"All I'm saying is the obvious! What kind of person doesn't have a car?!"

"The kind who can't afford one and doesn't _need_ one!"

"Well we could sure use one now!"

Wally rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Anyway, now thanks to a special _someone_ , we have another thirty minutes until the next bus is scheduled to come. Put that on top of the rain and probably really bad traffic, and it'll probably take it a good hour and a half to get here."

A flash of lightning briefly lit up the stormy sky, followed by a loud roar of thunder.

Arlynn looked at Wally like he was a madman, "We can't wait out here for that long! We'll get struck by lightning and die or something!"

"Actually the chances of getting struck by lightning are-"

"I don't care!" Arlynn exclaimed, "Fluffy is getting wet, _I'm_ getting wet, and it's cold. So can we go inside somewhere _please_?"

And so it was about ten minutes later that the two found themselves inside a nearby diner, both dripping wet and attracting attention from the few other patrons.

Neither Arlynn nor Wally paid any mind, however, as they slid into a booth.

Arlynn pulled Fluffy out from under her shirt, face falling once she saw that he was soaking wet despite her best efforts.

"Now his fur's gonna get all ruined." she complained.

"It's a toy from Walgreens. I can guarantee you that _something_ was gonna get ruined sooner rather than later." Wally replied.

That did nothing to reassure Arlynn as she continued to stare sadly at her toy, "I'm sorry that Wally did this to you." she said.

"What? How is that my-"

"Afternoon." Wally and Arlynn looked up at the sound of a Californian accent. A curvy woman, clad in her waitress uniform, stood in front of their table. Her clearly dyed, platinum blonde hair was up in a neat bun as she stared at the two with her too blue eyes, framed by dark blue eyeshadow and ridiculously long fake eyelashes. Her juicy red lips curled into a fake cheerful smile.

"Can I get either of you any drinks?"

Wally was half-tempted to decline but got the distinct impression that if he did so, he and Arlynn would be kicked right out the door and back into the storm.

"Um, sure. I'll get a water." he replied.

The waitress raised a thin eyebrow, "Well it comes with a lemon in it, think you can handle that?"

The waitress--Jean, her nametag read-- turned to Arlynn before Wally could offer a reply, plastering on another forced grin, "And you, sweetheart?"

"I'll take an apple juice." Arlynn replied.

Once she was gone, Arlynn looked to Wally.

"I don't like her." she stated bluntly.

"Yeah," Wally replied, gazing at her retreating back, "Me neither."

"She looks like a clown." Arlynn observed.

Wally couldn't hold back a bark of laughter at that.

 **For those of you that caught it, yes, I quoted Supernatural. And I have no regrets.**


	5. Chapter 5

It was nearing four by the time Wally and Arlynn got back to the apartment.

"Batman could beat Flash in any fight!" Arlynn argued as the two walked inside, the door closing behind them with a loud slam.

Wally looked personally offended by the statement (which he actually kinda was, even if he and Barry weren't on the best of terms at the moment, he was still his uncle. Besides, it was pretty much just common sense.) "Are you joking right now?! Flash can dodge anything Bats has to throw at him! Which, trust me, is a _lot_. Plus, Flash can literally run circles around Batman before he could even throw a punch!"

"Not if he goes for the legs." Arlynn defended.

"Okay. One: That's morbid. And two: Um, _hello_ , accelerated healing?"

"There's no way it's _that_ fast." Arlynn said skeptically.

It wasn't, but Wally wasn't about to give her the satisfaction.

"Oh, so you're the expert now?"

Arlynn raised an eyebrow, "No. Are _you_?"

"My point is that Batman kicks ass, but Flash does it faster." Wally said, not-so-subtely changing the subject.

"My mommy says that slow and steady wins the race." Arlynn refuted.

"Yeah, unless it's an _actual_ race." Wally countered.

Arlynn rolled her eyes as Wally disappeared into the bathroom, emerging with two dry towels. Arlynn barely managed to catch a towel as he tossed one to her, using the other to dry his hair.

"If you get sick, whoever your mom is will kill me." Wally offered as an explanation.

Arlynn shrugged but complied as she began to dry her own hair and face.

As she did so, Wally picked up the Walgreens shopping bag which he had nonchalantly dropped to the floor as they had walked in. Reaching in, he pulled out the sole item inside.

 _'DNA Paternity Test'_ , it read and Wally couldn't have felt even more stupid. _Great, now I wasted $30 plus whatever stupid laboratory fee I'll have to pay all for something that I know is gonna be negative anyway._

 _Hopefully_ , that stupid, stupid pessimistic voice at the back of his mind supplied unhelpfully.

 _Shut up._

"You never did tell me what that is." Arlynn said, suddenly appearing in front of Wally.

"Yeah I did." Wally replied.

"No you didn't," Arlynn insisted, "You only told me that it wasn't important."

"It's not."

"That's not my question." Arlynn replied.

 _Gee, was she sure pushy..._

"It's a paternity test." Wally answered.

Arlynn gave him an unimpressed look, "Really? Did the words on the box give it away? I meant what's a putter-nity test, Wally."

"Paternity." Wally corrected once again.

"Will you just tell me please?" Arlynn said, annoyed.

"Fine. It's...a test." Wally said evasively.

Arlynn glared at the man, "I will bite you." she threatened. For the briefest moment, Wally was suddenly reminded of a certain fiery blonde archer. Then the moment passed, and a blonde haired, green eyed four year old was left in it's wake. _Stop that, West. They're_ nothing _alike_.

"Why do you wanna know?" Wally asked.

"Because you _don't_ want me to know." Arlynn replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Wally shrugged, "Tough luck, kid."

Arlynn huffed and walked over to the couch, where a now only partially damp Fluffy sat. She climbed onto the piece of furniture to sit next to the toy before running her fingers through her hair as a makeshift comb.

Wally opened the box, taking out and reading the instructions.

"Huh? That's it?" he muttered to himself. With a shrug, he filled out the required paperwork, and took out the swabs, swabbing the inside of his cheek three times and placing it into a labeled envelope.

"Come here real quick, Arlynn." he said.

Arlynn who was watching him intently, raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"Just do it."

Arlynn complied and to Wally's surprise didn't protest too much as he repeated the same actions with her.

"This is so stupid." Wally grumbled for the nth time as he placed the swabs inside of Arlynn's labelled envelope.

"Then why are you doing it?" Arlynn inquired.

That took Wally for a pause. Why _was_ he doing this? To disprove some random claim from some probably random woman about a random kid? To make it easier on himself that the kid held no blood relation to him when he inevitably had to send her away? Wally mentally shook himself. It would do him no good to dwell on any of that right now.

Wally did his best to relieve the tension that had built up in his frame as he shrugged-a cheapskate way of getting out of answering the child's question.

Arlynn thankfully didn't push. As Wally reread the information sheet, skimming for where to send the data and when he would get the results, Arlynn piped up once more.

"So are you going to tell what a patnernee test is _now_?" she asked.

Wally didn't bother to correct her this time as he continued reading, "You know, kid, there's a line between persistent and annoying and you're thinning it _very_ quickly."

"Well maybe if you told me then I'd leave the line alone." Arlynn replied.

"Well maybe if you'd shut up we wouldn't have to worry about it at all." Wally retorted.

Arlynn huffed-a irritated tick that Wally was just noticing she had-and hugged Fluffy tightly to her chest.

"Hmph. Grouchy old man..." she muttered just loud enough for Wally to hear.

Wally's eye twitched but he gave no otherwise outward reaction to the jab. He read silently for a few more moments until-"THREE TO FIVE DAYS?!"

Arlynn jumped at his sudden outburst, "Why are you yelling?"

"It says that the results could take a _minimum_ of three friggin' days to come in!"

"Um...okay. And that's...bad?"

"Yes, it's bad I-!" Wally pinched the bridge of his nose, "The hell am I supposed to do with _you_ until the results get in?"

Arlynn suddenly got the distinct feeling that Wally was ranting more to himself than her, but nonetheless gave him an answer.

"Um...I dunno." Okay, maybe it was more of an unhelpful comment than it was an answer.

" _Exactly_ _!_ And you know what? I don't either, Arlynn! And I have school and a girlfriend and-" Wally seemed to deflate in an instant, "My life is a shi- crap load of crap right now."

If there was one thing that Arlynn hated, it was confusion. The feeling of being clueless as to what was going on, or why it was happening. However, she was quickly coming to learn to get acquainted with the feeling so long as she knew Wally. She stared at the clearly upset man, unsure of what to say or what even ticked him off in the first place. Briefly, she contemplated sitting quietly, letting the man stew in his own emotions that Arlynn had no hope of understanding. _But that would be mean_ , her conscience stubbornly insisted. Sometimes when Arlynn threw a tantrum and Mommy got _really_ mad, she would just ignore her and that to Arlynn was the very worst feeling in the world.

...And probably why she hadn't thrown a tantrum since she was three.

Going back to the topic, Arlynn knew she had to say _something_. So she said the first comforting thing that came to her mind, something that Mommy would say whenever Arlynn got real sad, like that time she dropped her ice cream or when she lost one of her most favorite toys earlier in the year.

"Sorry..." Arlynn did her best to make her apology sound as genuine and sincere as possible, even if she really wasn't because Wally looked like he really, _really_ needed it right then. Plus, something gave Arlynn the sneaking suspicion that she was the root of whatever Wally's problems were and that alone made her feel bad, if only slightly.

Wally looked at the girl, his gaze filled with an emotion Arlynn couldn't identify and...guilt? Once again Arlynn found herself frustrated with her own confusion and wondered briefly if that was normal.

"It's not your fault, kid," he said with a sigh, "I was just really hoping I could deal with this on my own."

 _Deal with what?_ Arlynn wanted to ask, but she wisely remained silent. See? She could be tactful when she wanted to be.

"On your own?" she asked instead because that was a harmless enough question, right?

"Well, yeah. I can't afford to ditch classes and it's not like you can just stay here alone until I get back."

And there it was again, _school_ , _classes._ Wally had mentioned it a couple of times now and Arlynn was growing more and more curious. So she asked the question that had been on her mind for a while.

"Aren't you too old to go to school?"

The question wasn't intended to be a jab at Wally's age but rather a curious one. Arlynn had been to school before-well, Kindergarten anyway- and everyone there was pretty young. Even the bigger kids, like the fourth and fifth graders didn't look nearly as old as Wally was.

Wally's lips twitched into a small, amused smile at the question, "School never ends, kid."

Arlynn looked absolutely horrified at that, "Like never _ever_?"

Wally had to fight to hold back a short laugh, "Well, I guess you could drop out after high school and work at a gas station or something like that. Or you could become Amish, they stop going to school after like, the eight grade to "live off the land" or whatever it is they do."

"What's a Amish?"

"People who insist on living in the 19th century. You know, no TV, no phones or other electronics, stuff like that. I think it's for religion or something, I don't know."

"That sounds terrible."

"Well it isn't the lifestyle I'd choose, that's for sure."

Arlynn nodded silently in agreement and belatedly, Wally realized that they had gotten completely off topic. How this girl had managed to effortlessly distract him from his current crap ton of problems he had no idea how to deal with, Wally didn't know. Though strangely enough, he didn't seem to mind it too much.

"Hey, Wally?"

He blinked out of his stupor before replying, "What?"

Arlynn hesitated briefly before speaking, "Are you okay?" she asked.

Wally blinked again. He had not been expecting that. Arlynn had asked the question before but never like this, never with as much sincerity and concern dripping from her tone. Concern for a 21 year old man that _should've_ been able to deal with his own messes without getting a child not even half his age involved.To know that _he_ was the one eliciting such emotions from the girl made him feel even crappier than he already felt.

Pushing his own inner turmoil to the side, Wally feigned confusion at Arlynn's question.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he deflected.

"I dunno..." Arlynn trailed off, feeling silly for even asking the question.

Sensing her embarrassment, Wally reached out a hand to ruffle her already messy hair, "Don't worry about me."

Arlynn pushed his hand away, "I wasn't!" she protested, "Anyway, I'm hungry."

 **And chapter five is a wrap! I really need to come up with some better chapter names.**


	6. Chapter 6

"You don't have a lot of food in your fridge."

"I know."

"Or in your cabinet."

"I noticed."

"Or in your pantry."

"Just sit down and shut up so I can order a pizza."

Arlynn complied as she sat down at the dining table, now clad in a fresh, dry pair of one of Wally's oversized t-shirts. Wally speed dialed a number on his phone, holding it to his ear as it began to ring.

 _"Hello, this is Domino's Pizza. How can I help you?"_ A stoic, female voice greeted."Uh, yeah, hi. Can I please get a large--" Wally held the phone to his chest for a moment as he asked Arlynn what she liked on her pizza.

"Pineapples and pepperoni!" Arlynn replied.

"Not in this house you don't!" he yelled back before putting the phone back to his ear, "A large pepperoni pizza for delivery, please."

 _"Alright, and will that be all?"_

"Yeah, that's it."

 _"Okay. And can I get an address?"_ Wally gave the lady his address and hung up before joining Arlynn at the table.

"Pineapples on _pizza_?" he asked incredulously.

Arlynn shrugged, "It's good."

"Blasphemy."

"Have you even tried it before?" Arlynn asked.

"Yes. And it was undoubtedly the most traumatizing experience of my life."

Arlynn rolled her eyes.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

Their attention was drawn instantly to the door.

"That was fast." Arlynn commented.

"I don't think that's the pizza." Wally replied as he stood up and walked to the door. He opened it to reveal none other than Linda, carrying several shopping bags with visible strain.

"Babe?"

"Hey," Linda greeted as she tried to keep one of the bags from slipping off her arm, "Wanna lend me a hand?"

Wally helped relieve Linda of her burden as he grabbed some of the bags.

"Linda, what--"

"Grocery shopping," Linda replied as she let herself in, "I figured you'd forgotten to do it yourself...again, and I have the week off so..."

"Wait. _You_ took a week off?" Wally asked incredulously. In the two years they had been together, Wally had quickly come to learn that his girlfriend was a _severe_ workaholic.

Linda huffed, "Hmph. No. Mandatory leave. My boss forced me to take the week off since apparently there's a legal limit for how many hours people can work per month. Most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

Linda made her way to the small kitchen with the bags and Wally called after her, "Babe, wait--"

It was to no avail however, as Linda spotted Arlynn, who had gotten up from her seat to see what was going on and now stared at the woman.

"Oh. Um, hi there." Linda said, slightly unnerved by the girl's piercing stare. She turned to face her boyfriend, who had made his way over to them sometime during their short interaction.

"Wally, who's this?"

"This is um, my um, my...niece?" Wally offered as a weak explanation.

"Aren't you an only child?" Linda questioned.

"Yes I am, aren't I? That's why I meant to say cousin. Well fourth cousin once removed, but it's all the same right?"

Linda didn't look convinced, but she thankfully didn't push--Wally was all too aware that she could poke holes in his already-admittedly weak cover story until it fell to pieces if she did.

"Um, okay. And how long has she been...staying with you?"

"Not long, only since last night." Wally replied. Seeing the unspoken question in Linda's eyes, he elaborated, "Her uh, her mom brought her here so that she could stay with me until she got out of um, rehab. Shouldn't be too long though! I'm only watching her until her mom gets back in...er, roughly three to five days." Wally glanced at Arlynn. _Don't blow it, kid..._

"How is she supposed to get out of rehab in less than a week?"

"Um, she's not. I meant to say that the kid's _dad_ is coming here to pick her up in a few days so that the two of them can go visit her mom at the rehab facility when she's, you know, not high."

Linda raised an eyebrow. Wally had to refrain from chewing on his lip.

Then, Linda turned away, walking over to Arlynn and kneeling down so they were at eye level.

"Hi, sweetie. I'm Linda, what's your name?"

Arlynn gazed at the woman suspiciously and Wally was suddenly reminded of how wary Arlynn had been with him on their first meeting.

"Why?" she asked.

Linda looked slightly taken aback by the question, "Um, well sweetie, because it's just polite to tell someone your name after they tell you theirs."

"Says who?"

"Um, the...people."

"What people?"

Wally coughed slightly and stared at Arlynn, hoping to silently relay the message of _"_ _be nice_ _"_ to the girl. Arlynn glanced at him and seemed to get the message as she gave out a small sigh and looked back to Linda.

"Arlynn." she said shortly.

"Oh," Linda said. It was obvious that her polite smile was forced then, "That's a really pretty name."

"How? It's just a name." Arlynn replied, unflattered.

"Um, Arlynn, why don't you go play or something?" Wally cut in.

Arlynn looked to Wally, "But the pizza--"

"I'll call you when it's here." Wally interrupted, "Now. Arlynn. Go play."

Arlynn rolled her eyes and trotted out of the kitchen, presumably to get her toys.

Linda stood up and turned to face Wally once more, "Wow. She's...quite a character."

Wally sighed, "Yeah, that's one way of putting it."

Linda smiled, "So, are you going to help me put away your groceries or what?"

And so the next few minutes were spent, doing just that, plus cleaning the kitchen since Linda insisted that it was a pigsty.

"Thanks babe, you really didn't have to do this." Wally said once they were finished.

"Yeah, well I guess you'll just have to make it up to me later then." Linda replied with a smile. The two engaged in a brief kiss.

"I _really_ wish there wasn't a kid here right now." Wally said once they parted.

Linda chuckled, "Well unfortunately for you, Mister, there is." She paused briefly for continuing, " Wally, are you sure you can take care of her?" she asked on a more serious note.

Wally stared at her confusedly, "What?"

"Arlynn, I mean," Linda clarified, "She's a child, Wally, a really young one. And you're a full-time college student. Children her age require a lot of attention, especially the more...troubled ones," Wally was fairly sure that if Arlynn were in the room, she'd be glaring daggers at him, "Plus kids are expensive, babe. _Really_ expensive. Somehow, I don't think your scholarship would cover that."

"It'll only be for a few days, Lin. And besides, what else could I do with her?"

Linda gave a him a _look_ , "You know what."

Wally instantly knew what she was implying, "Babe, I can't do that to her."

"Why not? From what you told me, it seems like the situation she's in requires help. _Professional_ help."

"I know, I just-!" Wally lowered his voice in the case that Arlynn was eavesdropping, "I can't call the CPS right now, alright? I just- I need a few days for...for things to get figured out, okay?"

"Things like that don't just get "figured out"."

"Babe, please just, _trust me_ , alright? This isn't permanent."

"I just don't want you to bite more off than you can chew, Wally. Not when so much is at risk."

"I know. And I'm not, okay? I'm _not_. I just need a few days is all."

"Okay." Linda said, albeit reluctantly, "If you've got everything handled, then I'll trust you. But don't you _dare_ hesitate to call me for _anything_ , got it?"

Wally smiled, it was one more of relief than anything, but Linda thankfully didn't seem to notice, "Yeah." he replied.

Linda gave him a peck on the cheek and smiled warmly, "Alright then. Anyway, I should be heading out now, duty calls."

Wally raised a skeptical eyebrow, "I thought you were banned from work for the week?"

" _Temporarily relieved_ , thank you. And my boss said nothing about working from home."

"You're obsessed."

"Shut up. Oh! And before I forget, I'll be back with some _real_ clothes tomorrow, you can't have that child waltzing around for the next few days clad in nothing but your old t-shirts after all."

Wally scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, "Right."

It wasn't long before Linda had left the apartment, the door closing with a soft clock behind her.

"Finally. I thought she'd never leave." Arlynn muttered, making her reappearance in the room.

Wally glared at the young blonde, "You didn't have to be such a little jerk to her, you know."

Arlynn shrugged, "I don't like her."

"You literally spoke five sentences to her." Wally pointed out.

Arlynn shrugged again.

 _Knock. Knock._

Arlynn glanced at the door, "That better be the pizza this time."

Wally answered the door and sure enough, Arlynn's guess had been correct. After paying for both the pizza and the delivery man's tip, Wally and Arlynn sat at the table once again, enjoying their slices of pepperoni pizza.

("It'd taste better with pineapples."

"Shut up.")

"Why'd you lie to Melinda?" Arlynn asked as Wally worked on his fourth slice of pizza, breaking the semi-comfortable silence between the two.

"Her name is Linda." Wally corrected.

"Whatever. Why'd you lie to her?" Arlynn repeated.

"It's complicated."

"Why?"

"Because it just is."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Why?"

"Wanna ask another question, kid?"

"Wanna answer my first one?"

If all kids were like this, Wally had just realized a newfound respect for his parents dealing with him at this age.

"...Eat your pizza." Wally said in an attempt to reroute their conversation.

"I am eating my pizza." Arlynn retorted.

"Well eat more, then."

"I'm full."

"Why are so difficult?"

"Maybe you're just easy."

Wisely choosing to ignore that he just got outsnarked (that was a word, right?) by a five year old, Wally moved onto another subject.

"So Linda's bringing you some more clothes tomorrow." he stated.

"Oh, yippee." Arlynn muttered unenthusiastically.

"Gee, don't sound so excited. Anyway, make sure to behave and be nice. And at least try to act grateful, please?"

"Whatever."

"Man, when did you become such an emo teen?"

Arlynn stuck her tongue out at the man.

 **Sorry this chapter was so short, next chapter will definitely be longer to compensate for the length of this one! And I know Linda's reaction to Arlynn is COMPLETELY different from the first version I wrote, but don't worry, this is certainly not the last we'll see of her.**


	7. Chapter 7

When Wally awoke the following morning, the first thought that came to mind was "ow".

He was stiff everywhere, and he meant everywhere. Sitting up from the couch, he felt his back pop at least three times. _Maybe I should invest in a better couch...for my back's sake if nothing else._ He stretched, hearing the various pops and cracks of his joints as he did so. Unconsciously, his gaze drifted in the direction of his room, where Arlynn peacefully slumbered on his soft, comfortable bed.

He ignored the feelings of longing towards the aforementioned object as his thoughts took another turn and he remembered the paternity test that he had mailed out the night prior. The paternity test that wasn't due back for another _five days_.

 _Looks I'll be sleeping on the couch for a while longer._

He hunched forward as he rested his elbows onto his knees, burying his face in his hands. Paternity test. The words echoed in his mind, only sounding that much more surreal every time he thought of them. _Where did I go wrong?_

' _She's...ours_ '

Sensing his thoughts trailing in an unwanted direction, Wally stood, eager to do something, anything, to distract himself. An idea came to him in the form of his stomach growling loudly as it tinged painfully. _Breakfast. I can do that right? I mean, Linda went shopping for yesterday so I have the stuff. Yeah and I need to pay her back too..._

He made his way over to the kitchen, opening the fridge and taking out ingredients for a relatively simple breakfast.

"I can make eggs, right?" he muttered to no one in particular.

He got a bowl and placed it on the small kitchen counter space before taking out an egg, thinking back to how his mom used to crack them as he lightly rapped it on the rim of the bowl. Upon seeing no damage to the outer shell, Wally tried it again with a bit more power. It broke slightly, some egg whites and golden yolks leaking out from the cracks, but it wasn't quite enough. Wally tried again, but it was too hard that time and resulted in the egg breaking into pieces, the egg white and yolk along with tiny shattered pieces of the shell falling into the bowl.

 _...Well this is off to a great start._

He stared at the contents of egg in the bowl, wondering if it was still edible to eat. _There's way too many egg shell pieces in there to individually pick out and I mean, they can't kill you right? ...Right. It's probably fine. Like swallowing a piece of gum._ He took two more eggs, cracking them only slightly better as he released the contents into the bowl. _I'm in the mood for scrambled today._ He grabbed a fork, attempting to beat the eggs in the expert way that his mom and Aunt Iris always seemed to do it from his memories. Egg spilled over the sides of the bowl, onto the counter and even the floor.

 _Okay. What next?_

He searched his mind, trying to grasp onto what little cooking skills he had learned from watching his mother. He snapped his fingers as it suddenly came to him. "Milk!" he said aloud. He made his way back to the fridge, pulling out the aforementioned item before returning to the counter. _Shoot. How much did she add?_ Wally frowned in deep thought as he tried to remember. _Alright, I know it wasn't a whole lot..._ Come to think of it, that was about all he knew. His mom had never really been one for exact measurements, thinking back on his childhood, he could remember his mother randomly adding a certain amount of an ingredient to a dish, seeming to just intuitively know the perfect amount.

 _Well thanks for nothing, Mom._

Briefly, he thought about calling her to ask but ultimately decided against it. With their different time zones, it was still very early morning where she was. Plus, even if she was awake to answer, she'd be absolutely _pissed_ considering it had been a few days since he'd last called or texted her. Internally wincing at _that_ inevitable conversation, Wally focused back on his task. _Okay, so I can remember Mom saying something about too much milk ruining the texture so...a cap full should be fine, right?_ He unscrewed the milk cap, quickly rinsing it out in the sink before filling it to the brim with milk and pouring it into the bowl.

He stirred the eggs again, watching as it it turned into a lighter yellow color. _Okay...this should be good, right?_ Wally nodded to himself in affirmation as he grabbed a frying pan, placing it on the gas stove and turning on the heat to medium before pouring the egg in. _Wait. I was supposed to let it heat up first, wasn't I?_ His thoughts turned out to be true as he had to wait a full five minutes for the pan to warm up and the eggs to start cooking. _Finally,_ he thought in relief as the edges of the eggs began to bubble. He began moving the eggs around (he knew to do _that_ at least, thank you very much), but found that pieces were burning into the bottom of the pot regardless of how often he moved them. He slapped his forehead as he was struck with a realization. _Butter! That's what you were forgetting, you idiot!_ He grabbed a plate, scraping the semi-burnt scrambled eggs onto it. _Well, it still looks mostly edible at least..._

"What's that?"

He whipped around to see Arlynn suddenly standing behind him, one hand rubbing a bleary green eye as the other held Fluffy.

"Well what does it _look_ like?" Wally phrased the statement to be more patronizing than an actual question, but Arlynn replied anyway.

"Um..." Arlynn scrutinized the dish closely as if she was judging something in a competition. Then she shrugged. "I dunno."

Wally glared at the girl, offended by her indirect insult to his cooking skills (even if deep down he knew they were absolute crap), "They're scrambled eggs."

"Aren't eggs supposed to be yellow _?_ "

"They are yellow!"

"Looks brown to me."

"They're an _off-yellow_ color."

Arlynn looked at the dish again, noticing the tiny white specks dotting the eggs, "Why are there shell pieces in your eggs?"

Wally threw his arms up exasperatedly, "Cooking is _hard,_ okay?! Now do you want breakfast or not?"

"Pass." Arlynn replied, stifling a yawn as she walked past him further into the kitchen.

Wally gaped after the girl, mouth opening and closing as he fought to come up with a reply but came up with nothing. After a few seconds of this, he settled with grabbing his plate of not-really eggs and a fork before sitting at the table, grumbling incoherently as he ate a mouthful. He nearly spit it out as he bit into an egg shell piece, its crunchiness coupled with the absolute _blandness_ of the flavor making the dish almost inedible. _Maybe if I add some salt?_ He got up and grabbed the aforementioned condiment before sitting back down and adding a sizable amount to the eggs. He took another bite...and had to fight to not spit it back out. _I overdid it on the salt._ Arlynn sniggered and Wally glared at her defiantly as he took another forkful of the _god-awful-but-he-refused-to-admit-it_ eggs.

"Hey, why don't you make yourself some toast for breakfast?" he couldn't resist jabbing, "Oh, _wait._ "

He didn't even attempt to hide his triumphant smirk as the girl's smile dropped and she glared at him.

She blew him a raspberry as an extra measure before turning back around and climbing onto the countertop effortlessly. Even with the extra height, Arlynn still had to balance on the tips of her toes as she reached up to the cereal cabinet, grabbing a box of Cheerios. She leapt off the counter after retrieving the desired item, landing gracefully on the tile floor before walking over and claiming the seat across from Wally at the dining table.

"You realize I _do_ have bowls, right?" Wally asked as Arlynn opened the box and dug her hand in the bag, pulling out a handful of the dry cereal to eat, "And milk." he added.

Arlynn shrugged, "No thank you." she replied.

"It was a rhetorical- oh, nevermind." Wally took another bite of the eggs and managed to choke it down before finally pushing the plate aside in surrender.

"Shut up." Wally said just as Arlynn opened her mouth, probably to give some sort of snarky comment. He got up, throwing the eggs in the trash and putting the plate in the sink.

"I'm gonna shower. Don't burn down the kitchen." he stated as he walked out of the room.

"That joke's getting old, you know!" Arlynn yelled after him indignantly. Finding herself alone for the time being, Arlynn ate a few more handfuls before closing the box and placing it on the table, too lazy to put it away. She absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair, wincing slightly once her fingers got caught in a knot. She worked slowly through it, now more than ever missing her mom. _Mommy always made sure to brush my hair._ Feeling the lump grow in her throat at the thought of her mother and her eyes begin to water, Arlynn quickly pushed down those feelings. _Stop being such a baby, Arlynn. Mommy'll be back._

 _Knock. Knock._

Arlynn looked to the door, grateful for the distraction. _Should I answer it?_

 _Knock. Knock._

She glanced down in the direction where Wally had walked off and seeing that the man didn't seem to be making a sudden appearance at that moment, she looked back to the door. _Mommy always told me not to answer the door unless she's there, but is it the same for Wally...?_

Another knock and then... "Walls! Are you home?!"

Arlynn groaned and rolled her eyes as she recognized the voice. Linda. Even Arlynn wasn't exactly sure what, but _something_ about their meeting the day prior had rubbed her the wrong way. The false smile, the overfriendliness...okay, so maybe she could name a few things after all.

After another second of contemplation, Arlynn opened the door just in time to see Linda preparing to leave. The woman blinked and turned around, that overly cheerful smile that Arlynn was learning to hate appearing on her face, "Oh hi, sweetheart."

 _Arlynn_. Arlynn wanted to correct since even her mom didn't use pet names like that for her. She bit her tongue however, remembering Wally's statement to be nice.

The two stood awkwardly at the door for a long moment, Linda struggling to hold up her heavy duffel bag and Arlynn staring at her and it warily.

"Um..." Linda began, clearing her throat awkwardly, "Can I...come in?"

"I don't know." Arlynn replied. Partly to be difficult and partly because she actually _didn't_ know. With her mommy, all the rules were set in stone. Arlynn knew exactly what not to do and how badly she would get in trouble if she did it anyway. Wally, though, was a stark contrast. _Wally knows Linda so he wouldn't get too mad of I let her in without his permission right? Or would he even care either way?_ Arlynn scrutinized Linda closely, ignoring the slightly wary look she was getting from the woman in response. _I don't like her, but she doesn't look like a murderer... Plus, I can just scream if she tries anything._

Shrugging, Arlynn opened the door wider and stepped aside, "I guess." she said.

After only a brief second of hesitance, Linda walked in, going to the center of the living room and dropping her duffelbag on the floor. She shuffled awkwardly at the silence in the room, and Arlynn couldn't stop the rolling of her eyes.

"So..." Linda began after a tense moment, "Um, where's Wally?"

"Shower." Arlynn replied shortly.

"Um, okay," Linda said, "That's nice..."

Arlynn raised an eyebrow.

"So how long are you planning to stay here?" Linda asked.

Arlynn shrugged wordlessly.

"Um..." Linda chewed her lip and Arlynn had to hold back a smirk. This was kind of fun.

"Your mom." Linda said suddenly.

Arlynn narrowed her eyes at the woman, her mood suddenly darkening slightly, "What about her?"

Linda nervously avoided eye contact with the girl, "Um...she's in rehab, right?" she asked.

For the briefest moment, Arlynn had no clue what she was talking about, but the lie Wally had told Linda the day prior suddenly came to mind.

"Uh, yeah." Arlynn replied. _Even if I don't know what a 'rehab' is..._

"That...must be hard on you."

"Sure," Arlynn replied distractedly, "Hey, what's in your bag?"

Linda blinked, "Oh, this?" she asked, looking to mentioned object on the floor.

 _I didn't see you holding another one_ , Arlynn had to stop herself from saying at the last minute.

Linda knelt down to unzip the bag, "Well I figured you must've gotten tired of wearing Wally's old t-shirts so I dug through my niece's old wardrobe and pulled out some clothes that I thought looked your size."

Arlynn trotted over and peered in the bag as Linda opened it wider so she could get a better view. A barrage of t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies. jeans, and leggings-all in various colors ranging from a bright rose pink to a plain gray- greeted her vision. Reaching in Arlynn pulled out a pink champagne colored sweatshirt and held it out to get a better look. On the front she could faintly see the image of a thumbs up emoji, though most of the sparkles and color that adorned the design were washed out. Tossing the shirt aside, Arlynn continued to dig through the articles of clothing. Much to her surprise, she found that she liked nearly everything that was in the bag.

"Are they okay?" Linda asked.

Arlynn glanced at the woman in mild surprise, for a brief moment she had forgotten she was even there. Arlynn shrugged, "I guess." she replied nonchalantly.

The way that Linda had chewed her lip and clenched her fists ever so slightly did not go unnoticed by Arlynn, "Anyway," Linda said and Arlynn could hear the slight strain in her voice, "How long do you think you'll be staying here for?"

"Um..." _What do I say?_ I _don't even know the answer. And didn't she already ask this?_ "Not...long." Arlynn offered as a weak reply.

Linda nodded, seemingly satisfied with Arlynn's answer, "You know it must be really hard for you." she said.

Arlynn narrowed her eyes at Linda as she picked up the obvious pity in the woman's tone. She _knew_ she didn't like her for a reason. "Yeah, you keep saying that." Arlynn replied.

Linda shrugged, "Well, you know, I just figured it _must_ be difficult. What with your mother _abandoning_ you and all..." she drawled.

Instantly, all of Arlynn's defensive walls came up, "She didn't _abandon_ me!" she exclaimed because she _didn't_ and Linda was a big fat stupid head to think so.

Linda's entire "nice girl" demeanor seemed to change as she let out a short patronizing laugh, "Oh, sweetheart. I'm a reporter...or I will be anyway. And if there's one thing I can tell, it's when a person is lying. For whatever reason, both you and Wally are lying to me, and I have to say that I don't appreciate that _at all_. So I'll give you a chance, honey, to tell me why you're _really_ here."

Arlynn's eyes widened slightly in surprise. So she _wasn't_ a complete ditz. "Why do you care?" Arlynn asked and underneath the suspicion in her tone was actual sincerity. Why _did_ Linda care? It wasn't as if _she_ lived here and this was only Arlynn's second encounter with her.

"My reasons are none of your concern, sweetheart."

Arlynn glared at her, "It's _Arlynn_. And I could say the same."

For the first time during their conversation, Linda glared back, "Listen, brat _._ I'm asking _nicely_."

Arlynn smirked, "And just what exactly are you going to do if you ask _not nicely_?"

"You know sweetheart, I'm sure your quote, unquote 'druggie' mom didn't teach you much manners so I'll tell you now that it's polite to respect your elders. _Especially_ ones who hold your entire fate of whether you get taken away to an orphanage in their hands."

Arlynn paled, "Y-you're lying."

It was Linda's turn to smirk, "Am I?" she knelt down to Arlynn's level placing her hands gently on Arlynn's shoulders as her tone softened, "Listen, honey, I know it may not seem like it now, but I'm not your enemy. I just want to help you find your mom before...well, you know."

"Before what?" Arlynn asked, her walls crashing down as she stared at the woman with vulnerability evident in her gaze.

"Before Wally gets tired of you, of course. You wouldn't understand it now, but he's a college student and that means that he's _really_ busy. Do you really think that he'll risk flunking out and ruining his entire future for one kid? Plus, Wally and I have a future of our own, sweetheart. One that doesn't involve a stupid, little kid getting in our way."

"He-he wouldn't. Wally wouldn't do that."

"And what makes you so sure about that? You've known him for...what? Two days? I've been _dating_ him for two _years._ Between me or you, who would you say knows him better?"

Arlynn rubbed furiously at her eyes in order to get rid of the stinging and sudden blurry vision, "Why are you so _mean_?" she asked, "You don't care about me finding my mom. Don't care about me _at all_. So why...why-"

The two could hear the bathroom door creak open down the hall as Wally finished his shower. Linda stood, giving Arlynn's knotted hair a gentle ruffle, "Anyway, you should think about it, sweetie. I'll be around. Hope you enjoy the clothes. Oh, and I put a hairbrush somewhere in there too, I'd advise making good use of it." The front door clicked closed behind Linda as she made her departure. Arlynn stared at the door for a long moment before sniffing her nose and rubbing furiously at her eyes to compose herself. She had only just managed to stop the waterworks when Wally walked into the living room.

"Hey kid, was Linda here? I thought I'd heard her voice." he asked.

Arlynn's gaze focused on her bare feet as she replied, doing her best to keep the wavering out of her voice, "Yeah. Yeah, you just missed her. She um, she dropped off clothes."

Wally glanced at the duffle, "Yeah, I see that..." he then looked back to Arlynn, who still hadn't had lifted her gaze to look at him yet, "You okay, Lynn?" he wasn't sure where the nickname had come from, but didn't think too much on it as he stared at the child with concern.

Arlynn could only offer a short nod before grabbing two random articles of clothing out of the duffle and heading to the bathroom to shower.

 **So...Linda's kind of a jerk, right? I'd like to thank all of my reviewers and welcome any more!**


	8. Chapter 8

**February 16th, 2016**

 **Palo Alto, California**

 **1100**

"I think I'm Cinderella."

Arlynn's comment came abruptly, breaking the semi-uncomfortable silence between them. For Wally it came as a surprise, considering the child hadn't spoken for the last hour or so. The two were at a Baskin Robbins, each enjoying their own frozen treats despite the fact that it was mid-February and near freezing outside. Wally had come up with the idea in order to cheer Arlynn up from...whatever was bothering her. Arlynn had still acted unusually subdued so Wally figured it wasn't working until, well, this.

"...What?" Wally asked, both out of genuine confusion and in order to keep the kid talking (so he was worried, okay?!).

Arlynn stirred her mostly melted hot fudge sundae with her spoon as she stared at the treat in deep thought for a moment. Then she took a bite and looked at Wally.

"I'm Cinderella." she repeated, as if it made complete sense and the absolute sureness in her tone made Wally feel a bit slow on the uptake as he tried to make sense of the statement.

"Um. Okay?" he said, still at a loss.

Arlynn gave a single nod, as if approving his statement, "If I'm Cinderella then Linda's definitely the evil stepmother who wants to keep me from being with the Prince and...well, I guess you're the prince then, Wally."

Wally blinked. Huh?

"What do you mean 'keep you from being with the prince'?" Wally asked. _Had he missed something?_

Arlynn opened her mouth to speak for a moment, but then for whatever reason, wavered and opted to eat another spoonful of ice cream as she shrugged.

Okay, Wally had no clue of how to deal with this, "Alright then..."

"Or maybe I'm Snow White," Arlynn continued, "And Linda could be the evil queen. But now I'm not sure if that would make you the dwarfs or the Prince. Probably more the dwarfs."

"Um..."

"Or I'm Dorothy. And Linda's the wicked witch. Though I guess that'd be kinda a stretch since the wicked witch only wanted Dorothy's red shoes. She's still mean though."

"Kid, did something happen?" Wally asked bluntly. Okay, maybe he could have used more tact in his questioning, but the kid was being weird _(er than usual)._

"No," Arlynn lied, "But Linda's definitely the evil stepmother."

Wally took a bite of his own hot fudge sundae, "Honestly, kid, I don't get this grudge you have towards Linda. I bet if you got to know her, you'd probably get along. Linda loves kids."

Arlynn snorted, "Somehow I'm not so sure about that."

"Well, you make it kind of hard for her to like you by acting like a little prick around her." Wally said in defense of his girlfriend, "And anyway-"

Arlynn raised an eyebrow at Wally's abrupt cut off to his sentence, "Anyway?" she prompted.

"...I texted her earlier. She agreed to watch you tomorrow while I'm at school."

Arlynn groaned, "Really?"

"Wow, don't sound so excited."

"Why would I be excited?"

"Because maybe you could use the chance to show Linda that you're not as much of a prick as you let on."

"Stop it, I'm blushing." Arlynn said flatly.

Wally ignored her sarcastic comment as he gave Arlynn a stern look, "Be nice to her tomorrow, Lynn."

"Yeah, yeah..." Arlynn muttered.

"Lynn."

" _I will_! Geez, you sound like my mommy."

Wally knew that Arlynn hadn't really meant anything behind the statement but he felt his heart stop for a brief second regardless. Arlynn didn't seem to notice his temporary distress however, as she finished off her dessert. A few minutes later the two walked down the streets of Palo Alto, wandering aimlessly as they tried to kill the hour they had to wait for the next bus to arrive.

"You should get a car." Arlynn replied as she tucked Fluffy, her new constant companion, under her coat, "Fluffy's getting cold."

"Fluffy is an inanimate object," Wally replied, "And we've discussed this already."

Arlynn was silent for a moment before her expression became oddly thoughtful.

"Hey, Wally?"

"What?"

"Do you...like me?"

Wally stopped walking for a brief moment as he looked at the girl quizzically, "Well, sure I like you kid. I mean you're a tad annoying, but..."

Arlynn rolled her eyes, but stayed otherwise silent. Wally widened his. He had been expecting some kind of sarcastic quip or at least an indignant reply on her behalf that she wasn't annoying. This whole subdued and non-argumentative _thing_ she was doing was...weird. Wally didn't like it.

"Kid."

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're good?"

Arlynn raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him, "That's weird. I didn't even know people _had_ records anymore. Let alone broken ones."

"Har, har." Wally replied flatly though he was internally relieved.

 _That's better._

* * *

 **February 16th, 2016**

 **San Jose, California**

 **1200**

"You're obsessed."

Linda didn't look up from her laptop screen as she heard another voice in the room.

"I'm not," she replied, the click-clacking of the keyboard keys not slowing down in the slightest, "I'm curious."

"No, girl. There is a fine line between curious and obsessed and you crossed it long ago."

Linda paused, glancing back at her roommate who stared back at her, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Then she rolled her eyes and looked back to her laptop, resuming in her task.

"You wouldn't understand, Kate." she sighed.

"Oh, yeah?" Kate replied and Linda could just _feel_ her challenging look, "Try me."

"I already told you." Linda said with another eyeroll.

"That your boyfriend is apparently bunking some kid? Yeah, I know that. What you _haven't_ said though, is why it bothers you so much that she's with him. What, is this jealously?"

Linda scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous. The kid looked like four. And it's not that she's staying with him that bothers me."

"Then what?"

Linda took her laptop off her lap and placed it beside her as she turned around fully in her bed to face Kate, who leaned in the doorway.

"They're lying to me." she stated.

Kate looked unphased, "About what?"

Linda groaned slightly in frustration, "That's the problem! I don't know and Wally won't tell me!"

"So? You're his girlfriend, not his keeper. So long as he isn't being unfaithful or doing anything illegal, he doesn't have to tell you everything that goes on in his life." Kate replied.

"No, you're not listening, Kate. He's lying to me, not omitting information or being cryptic, no, he's straight up _lying_ to me. Wally doesn't _do_ that. ...Or he didn't before, at least."

Kate raised an eyebrow, "Okay, maybe this is a stupid question, but did you ask him why?"

"Yes! Well...no, not exactly. He- I don't think he knows I'm onto him."

"So..."

"I can't just up and go to Wally and say _'_ _Hey, so your explanation about the kid was crap, mind dropping the BS and telling me what's really going on?'_ "

"Why not?"

Linda groaned, "Ugh, Kate! You're not being helpful."

"Well, you're not exactly doing much to help yourself, Lin. If you want to get to the bottom of it then you have to address the source, and if Wally won't tell you then ask the kid. I'd bet that she'd spill the beans."

Linda twirled a few stray strands of her dark hair as she whistled a nonspecific tune.

"Lin..."

"I may have, ahem, confronted the kid earlier."

"Nicely, right?"

"Well it started out that way..."

"Lin!"

"You weren't there!" Linda defended, "For whatever reason, the kid's just had it out for me since we met and she's rude, and sarcastic, and such a _smartass_. I just...there's something about her, okay?! She got under my skin and I lost my temper so I wanted...I wanted to get under hers."

"You went 'Mean Girl' on a four year old?"

"She could've been five..." Linda retorted weakly.

Kate continued as if Linda hadn't had even spoken, "That's just... that's low, Lin. Even for you. Especially for you."

"I know, okay?! I'm a terrible, despicable human being who deserves to burn in the deepest, darkest depths of hell!"

"Well I wouldn't go that far. But it was pretty bitchy of you to go off on a child. A _child_ , Lin."

"God, no need to make feel like an even bigger piece of crap! And anyway, I'm gonna make it up to the kid."

"By googling her on your laptop?" Kate asked, catching a glance at the still open screen, "So 'Arlynn' huh? No last name?"

Linda shut the mentioned object, "Not one that was mentioned and would you stop peeking at my stuff?!"

Kate shrugged, "Not my fault that you're not discrete in your obsessive stalking... and Google? Really?"

"Not like I have a whole database to pull information from and for the last time, Kate, I'm not. Being. Obsessive. I just, I want information okay?"

Kate rolled her eyes, "Oh God, you're one of _those_ girlfriends." she groaned.

"I'm not one of _those_ anything!" Linda retorted defensively, "And if you're not gonna help, then _leave._ "

Kate shrugged, "Fine by me." She had just started to walk out when Linda called for her.

"What?" she asked.

"Do you think you could keep yourself busy tomorrow? I'm babysitting." Linda asked.

"Babysitting? And this child doesn't happen to be the one that you're jealous of, right?"

"I'm not--" Linda groaned and chose to not rise to the bait, "Yes, _Arlynn_ is coming over while Wally is at school. I figured that since I'm not at work, why not, right?"

"Sure, whatever. But, Lin?"

"What?"

" _Be nice._ "

"God, Kate! You make me sound like some type of elementary school bully!"

"Well..."

" _Leave._ "

Kate couldn't hold back a laugh as she left the room.

Linda sighed before reopening her laptop.

She _would_ get to the bottom of this.

* * *

 **February 17th, 2016**

 **Palo Alto, California**

 **0800**

"I don't wanna go."

Arlynn was pouting, her arms crossed and cheeks puffed out as she stubbornly refused to move from the spot where she was standing in the living room.

 _The whole shabang._ Wally thought with exasperation as he stared at the child. While Arlynn hadn't had quite thrown the full-out kicking and screaming tantrum yet, Wally would bet that she wasn't far from one. Sure she didn't _seem_ like the typical bratty child who'd pitch a fit if she didn't get her way, but hey, he'd been wrong before.

...And Wally _really_ didn't want to deal with that. Especially this early in the morning.

"Kid," Wally said, doing his best to keep the annoyance out of his tone, "We talked about this."

"Yeah. And I _told_ you I didn't wanna go." Arlynn replied petulantly.

"And I told _you_ that you were going anyway." Wally snapped because _screw patience_.

If anything, Arlynn seemed to grow more determined, "No." she replied, her tone letting Wally know that there would be no rational reasoning on this one.

Wally heaved a sigh and glared at the girl. Arlynn glared back.

One 30 minute bus ride later, Arlynn struggled to get out of Wally's grip as the man walked up the stairs to his girlfriend's apartment, Arlynn slung over his shoulder.

"This is kidnapping, you know." Arlynn said as she continued her futile struggles.

"I doubt that, Lynn."

"Well I bet the _police_ will agree with me when I call them!"

Wally snorted, "Yeah, see how well _that_ goes for you."

Arlynn ceased in her struggles as she opted to huff dramatically, "You're mean." she said bitterly.

Wally didn't reply as they reached Linda's apartment door and he knocked twice, placing Arlynn down. In a flash (no pun intended), he gripped the four year old's wrist as her muscles tensed, prepared to take off.

" _Don't_." he said simply as he repositioned the girl to stand in front of him, both hands gripping her shoulders not too tightly.

Arlynn's response was another huff as she crossed her arms.

Linda opened the door not a second later, a welcoming grin on her face.

"Hey." she greeted.

Wally smiled back, "Hey." He squeezed Arlynn's shoulders slightly as she remained silent.

"Hi." Arlynn said, her voice barely above a whisper as she stubbornly refused to make eye contact.

"Babe, I cannot thank you enough for doing this." Wally stated.

Linda gave another grin as she pecked him on the cheek, "Hey, she's your family. And besides, not like I have work or anything. ...Well for the rest of this week, anyway. It's no problem," Linda smiled down at Arlynn who had dared to peek at the woman, "I think Arlynn and I will have a _great_ time getting to know each other."

"Yeah, well," Wally said, releasing Arlynn's shoulders and gently nudging her towards the inside of Linda's apartment, "I owe you one anyway. Um, I should go."

Arlynn had no time to react as Linda took her hand in hers and gently pulled her inside, "Yeah, I'll see you!" Linda called.

With that Linda closed the door.

 **So, yes, Kate is another OC but I just really wanted to get out some of Linda's thoughts on the matter** **and figured why not? Don't worry though, she's definitely not going to be a major character in the story. I'd like to give a big thank you to all my reviewers! If you noticed, I tried to take some of the constructive criticisms into account and make Linda a bit less bitchy. However, I just couldn't see her being completely okay with the whole situation. Thanks for reading and happy early thanksgiving! :-)**


	9. Chapter 9

**February 17th, 2016**

 **San Jose, Calif** **ornia**

 **HOUR ONE.**

... _Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock..._

 _...51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60._

Arlynn sighed as she counted the final tick of the second hand on a clock, signifying yet another minute. Another dull, painstakingly boring minute. She lay upside down on Linda's living room couch, her hair falling freely in a golden cascade to the hardwood floor.

She sat up with a sigh, blinking the black dots out of her vision as all the blood rushed from her head. Never before had she been this _bored._ Okay, well maybe that wasn't the complete truth, there was this one time when school was out that she had to go with mommy to her work. ... _U_ _gh._ Enough said.

Arlynn glanced across the room to Linda, who sat clicking something away on her laptop. Now Arlynn wasn't sure _what_ she had been expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. When Wally had left about half an hour ago, there had been some awkwardness, a few attempts on Linda's behalf to start a conversation. Arlynn wasn't having it then, though, and stubbornly remained silent until Linda had eventually just given up. Now, Linda seemed completely content with simply pretending that Arlynn wasn't there. Arlynn hadn't really minded it at first, but as time ticked on and the silence continued, and it became more and more evident that Wally wouldn't be back anytime soon, it began bothering her more and more. What right did Linda have to give _her_ the silent treatment? _She_ was the one that was being mean.

 _"Well, you make it kind of hard for her to like you by acting like a little prick around her."_

...As she recalled Wally's statement from yesterday, Arlynn realized that maybe she wasn't the nicest towards Linda either. Still, that didn't mean that Linda had to talk about mommy like she did.

 _"You know sweetheart, I'm sure your quote, unquote 'druggie' mom didn't teach you much manners so I'll tell you now that it's polite to respect your elders. Especially ones who hold your entire fate of whether you get taken away to an orphanage in their hands."_

Yep. If anyone was getting the silent treatment then it should be Linda, not her. Arlynn stood, her mind made up. If she was stuck here until Wally got back, then she definitely was not going to be ignored for the entire time. Least of all by Linda. She strode over to the woman and crossed her arms as she waited impatiently for a reaction. Linda didn't seem to notice that she was even there. Arlynn cleared her throat, "Hey."

Linda jumped and slammed her laptop screen closed before meeting the child's gaze. "Um, hey sweetie."

Arlynn raised an eyebrow at the women's suspicious actions, but shrugged it off. Adults were weird, she had learned that lesson a while ago. "Arlynn." she corrected.

"Right," Linda replied, "Um, Arlynn. What's up?"

"I'm bored." Arlynn stated, "And you're ignoring me." There was a subtle accusatory tone in the way she said the last part.

Linda blinked, "I uh...I thought- I mean I figured that you- well, earlier you didn't seem very interested so I thought that maybe you _wanted_ to be left alone. I wasn't- I didn't mean to make it seem like I was _ignoring_ you. Of course, I get how you would interpret it that way but-"

"I don't like you," Arlynn cut off Linda's ramble, "You're mean and rude and a bully."

Linda sighed, "Okay. That's...fair, all things considered-"

"I don't like you," Arlynn continued, "But I don't _hate_ you. My mommy says that hating someone without a real reason to is stupid, and I'm _not_ stupid. And you're not stupid either, at least I don't think. So why do you hate _me_ then?"

Linda almost doubled over from the sucker punch that guilt gave her right in the gut. Of course, looking from the five year old's perspective, she could get why she would think that. _(_ _"...Wally and I have a future of our own, sweetheart. One that doesn't involve a stupid, little kid getting in our way")_.

Internally, she winced at her own words before sighing softly. "Arlynn," she said, "I don't hate you."

Arlynn stared at her with a flat expression.

"I _don't_." Linda emphasized. "I...I don't know. But I don't hate you, honey."

"Arlynn." Arlynn corrected once again.

"Arlynn." Linda said.

Arlynn scrutinized the woman for a long moment. Linda would be lying if she said she wasn't the slightest bit creeped out about that. Seriously, what four year old _did that_ _?_ Then Arlynn shrugged, and her scrutinizing expression became neutral as she shrugged carelessly.

"Okay." she said.

Linda raised an eyebrow, confused, " Okay?" she asked.

Arlynn nodded, "Okay." she affirmed.

Linda could only blink stupidly as the child came to some sort of inner conclusion. " Um...cool?"

"..."

"..."

"Well?" Arlynn's expectant tone broke the building awkward silence between the two.

Keeping up with whatever was going on through the girl's mind was like attempting to beat the Flash in a foot race, Linda decided. _Impossible_.

Arlynn groaned and rolled her eyes at the woman's obvious cluelessness. "I'm bored." she repeated.

In her peripheral vision, Linda spotted one of Kate's deck of cards lying on the table. "Right. Well, um...you ever play Uno?"

 **HOUR TWO.**

Linda was up to something.

She wasn't exactly being discrete with it, after all. Arlynn could tell by the sudden niceness, the perpetually friendly smile. Now usually one might assume that her kindness was out of guilt, and Arlynn suspected that was part of it, but...

"So are you from the area, Arlynn?"

Questions. Linda had been asking them practically nonstop. It wasn't quite bombarding or constant enough to be annoying, even. Linda was smart in the way she asked them, her tone was curious rather than pressing and the way she spoke was offhanded. Arlynn could see right through it though. Mommy had done the same thing after all, whenever she found out about something Arlynn did that she tried to hide from her. She would never outright call Arlynn out, no. Mommy would act completely normal, offhandedly ask the key hinting questions until eventually Arlynn inadvertantly admitted to her own fault. Linda was prying. For what, Arlynn had no idea.

"No." She answered shortly as she placed down a green card on top of the growing pile, "Uno."

"Oh." Linda replied, as she placed down a green draw two card, "So um...where are you from then?"

Arlynn shrugged, "Around." she answered vaguely. She put down a blue draw two card on top of Linda's. "I win." she announced.

With a frustrated yell, Linda threw down her full hand of cards. "What?! _Again?!_ " she exclaimed. Arlynn couldn't hide a smirk as she picked up the cards.

"Wanna play again?" she asked.

"Fuck no!" Linda exclaimed, her mission seemingly forgotten for the moment.

Arlynn snickered, "You said a potty word..."

Linda sighed as she recomposed herself, "Oh fuck, sorry. Oh shit I did it again." she groaned, " _Shit._ Ugh! _F_ _uck._ Goddammit..." she broke off with a sigh.

Arlynn stayed silent as she stared at the woman, amusement in her gaze. She didn't exactly know what it was about Linda, but _something_ about her just made it so fun to rile her up. ...As long as it wasn't in Arlynn's detriment, of course.

Linda looked at her, "Um...don't repeat anything I just said, alright?"

"Which one? Shit, fuck, or goddammit?" Arlynn asked, fluttering her eyelashes in feigned innocence.

Linda glared at the girl before groaning and putting her face in her hands, "I'm never having kids..."

Arlynn stacked the cards into a neat pile and placed them aside before looking back to Linda. Sensing her stare, Linda lifted her head out of her hands and looked up. "What?" she asked.

"Can we have a tea party?" Arlynn asked.

"A...tea party?" Linda repeated, slightly bewildered. Really, it wasn't a strange request for a four year old to make, but somehow Arlynn hadn't struck her as the 'tea party' type.

"Yeah," Arlynn said slowly, "It's when you-"

"I know what a tea party is." Linda interrupted, "I just-I didn't think-nevermind. Sure, I uh...yeah. I might have some tea around here somewhere..."

Arlynn made a face, "No thank you. Tea is nasty."

Linda blinked, "So, you want a tea party...with no tea?" she asked.

"Mommy usually just made hot chocolate." Arlynn replied.

Linda nodded. _Don't question it, Park._ "Alright, well I know Kate has a stash of that lying around so I'll just get it ready." It didn't take long for Linda to find her roommate's stash, and after preparing the beverages, she walked out to see Arlynn already sitting at the dining table. Linda placed a warm cup in front of Arlynn and then a slightly larger mug for herself as she took the seat adjacent from the child.

"Ahem." Arlynn cleared her throat loudly before Linda could take a sip of her drink. Linda lowered her cup and looked at the girl.

"What?"

"What about the snacks?" Arlynn asked.

Linda had to withhold a groan. _Am I really allowing a four year old to boss me around?_ She forced a friendly smile. "Right. Silly me, what kind of snacks would you like, hon-erm, Arlynn?"

"Cookies!" Arlynn proclaimed.

Linda walked back into the kitchen and emerged with a package of Oreos. She set them in the center of the table before sitting back down. "There. Is everything to your liking, your majesty?"

Arlynn raised an eyebrow, "Um...we're not eating on _plates_?"

Linda sighed and stood up once again to walk into the kitchen. It was hardly a moment later when she reemerged with two paper plates. Once again, she gave one to Arlynn and kept the other for herself.

Arlynn stared at her. Linda couldn't hold back an annoyed groan. "What _now_ _?_ "

"And we're just 'posed to eat the cookies out of the package?"

Linda walked back into the kitchen, emerged with another plate, and arranged about a dozen Oreos into a neat pile on the plate. "There. Now we have hot chocolate, plates, and the cookies are arranged. Anything else?"

Arlynn stared at her with an appraising expression. "You're really staying dressed like that?"

Linda looked down at her plain gray jogger pants and black tank top. "What's wrong with how I'm dressed?"

Arlynn rolled her eyes, "This is a _tea party._ "

Linda looked at the black leggings and white Nirvana t-shirt Arlynn wore. "Well, _you're_ not exactly dressed up yourself." she pointed out.

" _I'm_ not the host." Arlynn retorted.

Linda threw her hands up in exasperation. "This was _your_ idea!"

" 'zactly! I've done my part!"

Linda's eye twitched once. Twice. Then she took a breath and took her seat once more. "I'm not changing my clothes." she stated matter-of-factually. No way was she changing an entire outfit for a tea party that wasn't even a _tea_ party because a four year old that she was _babysitting_ told her to.

To her surprise, Arlynn didn't seem too upset by her answer. "Suit yourself." The girl shrugged as she grabbed a cookie.

 _The little brat was messing with me._ Linda realized. She grabbed at her cup a little too quickly which caused some of the liquid to splash onto her lap. She stood, cursing silently and did her best to ignore Arlynn's snickers.

"So are you gonna change _now?_ "

Linda sighed. _Maybe I should consider a hysterectomy..._

 **HOUR THREE** _._

 _"...and I'll reread the books, if I have time to spare! I'll paint the walls some more, I'm sure there's room somewhere! And then I brush and brush, and brush and brush my hair! Stuck in the same place I've always been! And I'll keep wanderin', and wanderin', and wanderin', and wanderin', when will my life begin?..."_

Arlynn sat cross-legged on the living room floor as she stared at the Disney movie playing on the TV screen, her green eyes wide and unblinking. She slipped a small hand in the popcorn bowl next to her and stuffed a buttery handful into her mouth.

From on the couch, now clad in black sweats and a white t-shirt, Linda sighed in relief. _This ought to keep her entertained for another hour or so at least..._ She glanced at the time and withheld a groan. It had only been barely _three hours_ amnd she was already falling apart. Linda would openly acknowledge that maybe she had bit off a little more than she could chew with this whole babysitting thing, but honestly how was she supposed to know that it would be this _hard_? She looked back to the child, who was (admittedly) adorable as she watched the movie, entirely entranced. Linda wondered if all kids really _were_ this difficult or if Arlynn was intentionally irritating the hell out of her

She'd bet on the latter.

Linda stood, walking over to the table to grab her laptop before reclaiming her seat on the couch. She glanced at Arlynn once again, ensuring that the child was occupied, before opening it. The tab from her previous session was still up and she read the search bar. _'_ _Arlynn'_ , it read. Scrolling down, she saw that the results were just as useless as they had been when she had first gone through it. 'Arlynn', though not a common name, wasn't exactly a one of a kind. Her search was too broad, too vague. Without a last name, she wouldn't dig up anything useful. _Now how to bring that up without looking suspicious._

It was ridiculous, having to tiptoe on eggshells around a four year old, but whether it be unintentional or not, getting any form of information out of Arlynn was like pulling teeth. She couldn't tell if the child was being oblivious or secretive, but any question, any inquisition that Linda asked were either dodged, ignored, or answered in such a way that she gained no real information from it at all. It was irritating is what it was, but it wasn't like Linda could actually _do_ anything about it.

...Without looking like a heartless jerk anyway.

" _Linda._ "

Linda blinked, slightly startled. It was then that she noticed Arlynn was staring at her, her gaze a mixture of annoyance, exasperation, and expectation. It was clear that she had been repeating herself.

"Oh, um, sorry what?" Linda asked.

Arlynn rolled her eyes and held out her popcorn bowl, the only contents now being a few unpopped and partially popped kernels. "More popcorn, please."

Linda frowned in confusion. She hadn't zoned out for _that_ long...had she? "It was full a second ago," she said as she took the bowl, "You ate it all already?"

"Clearly." Arlynn replied.

"You didn't eat before you came here?" Linda asked.

"No."

Oh. _Oh._ It was officially official: Linda was the worst babysitter ever. How had she not even thought of offering Arlynn anything to eat? Or asking Wally if she had eaten beforehand?

"Um, alright then, why don't we try getting some real food to eat instead?" Linda said as she once again closed her laptop and stood.

"Popcorn isn't a fake food." Arlynn said.

Linda rolled her eyes. _The little smartass._ "You know what I mean." she said. She could hear the tiny pitter-patter of footsteps as Arlynn followed her into the kitchen.

"So what do you want?" she asked, "I can make you a sandwich or heat up some bagel bites..."

"Popcorn." Arlynn replied stubbornly.

Linda gave the child a pointed look, "So a sandwich then," she said wryly, opening the fridge. "Do you like ham or turkey?"

"Peanut butter and jelly." Arlynn replied. Linda could tell it was just to be difficult. She smirked, two could play it that way.

Closing the fridge, Linda placed all the necessary ingredients on the counter. "Turkey it is. You want cheese?"

Arlynn huffed indignantly.

"I'll take that as a yes." Linda said. She finished preparing the sandwich before walking over to the table and placing it down.

"I want popcorn." Arlynn protested, crossing her arms as she stubbornly refused to move.

Linda rolled her eyes, "Don't be a brat."

Arlynn glared at her, "I'm _not_ a brat."

Linda smirked, "Prove it." She gave an internal cheer of victory when the five year old strode over to the table, climbing onto her chair with some difficulty and taking an exaggerated bite of her sandwich- as if _she_ were making a point to _Linda._

 _Maybe I'm not half-bad at this babysitting thing after all,_ Linda decided. As she watched the girl eat, it became increasingly evident that Arlynn was in fact, _ravenous_ , as she all but inhaled the sandwich. Hardly five minutes had passed before the child's plate was clean and Linda was half-tempted to offer her more. Before she got the opportunity to, however, Arlynn held the plate out towards her.

"More, please."

 **HOUR FOUR.**

"Arlynn, _no._ "

" _Why not?_ "

Linda almost laughed at the completely indignant expression on the girl's face, as if she didn't realize the complete absurdity of her request. For a moment, she wondered about what it was exactly that went through the child's head that allowed her to rationalize the idea.

"Because _no_." she replied firmly because in these past few hours she may have complied with quite a few of Arlynn's whims, but this was _non-negotiable_. "You can't jump off the balcony and use your hair as a rope."

"But 'punzel did it!"

"Rapunzel is a _cartoon._ Not to mention that it'd hurt like hell and your hair's not near long enough for it to work and- _w_ _hy are you even arguing this?_ No, Arlynn. Just...no. _No._ "

Arlynn huffed and did (dare she say it) a rather adorable pout. "You're mean."

Linda couldn't even really bring herself to get annoyed. "And you're very welcome. You probably don't get it now, but I just saved your life."

"Hmph."

"Oh, come on... Don't be like that. Hey, we'll do something else, okay? Something non-life threatening." Linda appeased.

Arlynn was quiet for a stubborn moment, but then looked back to Linda with a slightly hopeful expression. "Can I use an umbrella instead?"

" _No!_ " Linda exclaimed, "Okay, let me clarify. Something non-life threatening that _doesn't_ involve jumping off a balcony or any other height."

"That's boring."

"Your idea of fun sounds warped. You know what? Remind me to never let you watch Tangled ever again... or any Disney movie in general just to play it safe."

"I'm bored."

"I've noticed."

"When's Wally coming back?"

"Later."

"How later?"

"Later later." Sensing the conversation going nowhere, Linda was quick to change the topic before Arlynn could reply. "Hey, I know! Why don't we play a game?"

"What game?"

Linda couldn't help but silently marvel at how seamlessly the child's mind switched tracks. "It's called 'Twenty Questions'." she explained. A cheap trick, Linda knew, but hey, if it works...

Arlynn was unimpressed, "That doesn't sound like a fun game." she replied.

"No it is, I promise!"

Arlynn still didn't look convinced.

Linda sighed, "It might help pass time before Wally comes back..."

"Fine," Arlynn relented, "But I wanna go first."

"Ask away." Linda consented.

"Okay. Um... Uh..."

After about two minutes of that, Linda grew impatient. "Maybe I should go, Arlynn?" she suggested.

"No! It's my turn!" Arlynn said defensively. "Um... Hm. Have you...no, I don't wanna ask that one. Uh..."

Linda's left eye twitched.

"Oh! I know!" Arlynn exclaimed after another minute. "Have you ever been to _Disneyworld?!_ "

 _It took her three minutes to come up with that?!_

"A few times, but not since I was twelve. You haven't?" Linda asked.

Arlynn shook her head, "Mommy says she'll take me one day though! And then I can meet Cinderella! And wow, you haven't gone in like a bajillion years then!"

"A bajillion...? Arlynn, I'm 23." Linda replied, slightly offended. Arlynn stared at her. She sighed, recognizing a lost battle when she saw one. "Nevermind. Anyway, it's my turn."

"Nuh-uh!" Arlynn said, "You already _had_ your turn!"

"What? I did not." Linda refuted, confused as to what the girl was talking about.

"Did too!" Arlynn retorted, "You asked if I'd been to Disney World!"

"I-what? That didn't count!" Linda protested.

"It was a question, right?" Arlynn inquired.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Then it's my turn now." Arlynn interrupted, "And my question is, um... "

Linda groaned. _Note to self: Children are **very** particular about rules. ...And indecisive._

"What's a orphanage?"

Linda blinked, "You-wha? You don't know what an orphanage is?" Instantly, she regretted saying it. _Crap! There goes another one of my turns..._

Arlynn shook her head. "It sounded bad when you said it though."

 _(".._. _Especially ones who hold your entire fate of whether you get taken away to an orphanage in their hands."_ _)_ Guilt, oh familiar friend, there you are. Linda forced away the flashback and focused on answering the question. "Well, an orphanage is a place where um... well, when kids don't have parents or...guardians, they go there. Usually." she replied.

"...Oh." Arlynn said. "Um, it's your turn."

Linda was confused at the girl's sudden subdued behavior, and at the fact that Arlynn was letting her go even though she knew that she knew that Linda had already technically used up her second turn. _Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Park._

"Alright! Uh...where're you from?" she asked. _Subtle, Lin, real subtle._

"New York." Arlynn replied.

"Really?" Linda was surprised by the easy answer. "You don't have an accent."

"What's a accent?"

"Nevermind. Your turn."

"I don't like this game."

"Oh, come on! We just started!"

Arlynn shrugged wordlessly.

Linda frowned.

"Hey, are you...um..." She trailed off. Gosh, why did this feel so _awkward_ _?_ _She's friggin' five!_ _Pull yourself together!_ "...What do you want to play instead then?" _Coward._

"I wanna go home."

Linda blinked. That had not been what was she was expecting.

"Well, hon-Arlynn. Wally won't be back for a few hours-"

"No! I wanna go _home_ _!_ Not with Wally!" Arlynn exclaimed.

Linda was taken aback by the outburst. _Well, shit._ She remained quiet for a long awkward moment as she tried to piece together what had led to...this, and what the heck she could do to fix it before tears started flowing. In the end, she could come up with nothing. _Well thanks for nothing, useless brain._

"Arlynn, um..." What to say, what to say. "It's...alright. You, uh, you'll go home...eventually."

"When?"

 _And I guess we're playing the question game again._ "Uh, soon." _Hopefully, for the both of our sakes..._ "I mean, maybe not tomorrow or even next week, but-" she stopped as she saw Arlynn's face fall." _But_ what I mean to say is your mom will pull herself together...eventually, and you'll get to see her again. I mean, I obviously haven't spoken to her so I can't give you an exact date, but assuming she was a good mom-though I don't say this to imply that I thought she was a bad mom! I mean I can't tell you she was a great mom or anything since we don't have a relationship or anything like that-though I'm sure she was! Wait, we're talking about your mom right?"

Arlynn blinked, clearly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of word barf that had just exited from Linda's mouth. Linda sighed and tried for a new approach.

"Um, I guess what I'm trying to say is...uh, it's okay?"

"...You're not good at this."

"I know."

 **HOUR FIVE.**

" _Ow!_ Linda, you're pulling!"

"I'm not pulling, you're _squirming_!"

"Yeah, only 'cause you're pulling!"

"Well, maybe I'd _stop_ pulling if _you_ stopped squirming!"

With an indignant huff of defeat, Arlynn forced herself to remain still as Linda finished off the fishtail braid in her hair.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Linda proclaimed as she tied in a pink ribbon, the finishing touch.

Arlynn scowled and gingerly patted her hair, "Well at least you didn't yank all of it out."

Linda rolled her eyes, "You're welcome." she replied wryly. "You like it?"

Arlynn took a grip of her braid and ran her fingers all the way down to where it ended at her hip. It was...nice, loathe as she was to admit.

"My mommy does it better." she said instead. To her surprise, Linda didn't get indignant, or offended. She just sighed, accepting and resigned (she did that a lot, Arlynn noticed) and gave a simple nod. Arlynn examined her closely. This whole 'staying with Linda' thing was going _completely_ different than she had imagined. For one, a few hours ago Linda had _apologized_ (well, not really, but Arlynn could read in between the lines) and the entire time that Arlynn had been here she had acted _nice_ towards her. It was...weird, after Linda's whole 'Wally's-going-to-eventually-send-you-away' speech/threat thing from _yesterday._ It was as if she was a completely different person- she was patient with Arlynn (for the most part), and she didn't snap at any of Arlynn's annoying antics (that may or may not have been intentional). Strange as it may seem, Arlynn couldn't say that she was a big fan of this nicer Linda. Not because of the way she was treated of course, but more because of how unpredictable it made Linda seem. The truth was that Arlynn didn't know what to expect from the older woman, and that fact was something that she _hated._

"I'm sure she does." Linda replied and it took Arlynn a second to realize that was in response to her earlier comment.

Arlynn disregarded the resigned statement and looked over to the clock she couldn't read, wondering what time it was. Wally had been gone for a while...was he coming back soon? Then a scary thought: was he coming back _at all_ _?_ Arlynn tried to not let the panic of that thought get to her. _Of course_ Wally was coming back, he had said so himself and he'd never lied to Arlynn...yet. Plus if Wally _didn't_ come back, then there was no way that she'd stay with Linda and since Mommy wasn't around at the moment then Linda would probably call the police and the men in suits would come to take her away and then they'd put her in an orphanage and then Mommy would _never_ be able to find her and-

"Arlynn? Honey."

Arlynn looked back to Linda. Something wet and warm slid down her cheeks and she almost immediately realized what they were. Taking her eye contact away from Linda, she furiously rubbed the tears away.

"Hey, um..."

"I'm fine." Arlynn said. She had already humiliated herself once in front of Linda, no need to do it again.

"Of course you are." Linda said with a sigh.

"Then stop asking." Arlynn snapped.

"I didn't ask."

"Well, you were going to."

Linda went quiet at that and Arlynn took the moment to recompose herself. She hated this- the crying, the wondering, the 'what ifs'. She wanted Mommy and she wanted to go home. Mommy would have never left her here with Linda, in the hands of a complete stranger- except, she kind of did, didn't she? That night when they were on the way to what was apparently Wally's apartment, Arlynn had cried and pleaded with Mommy not to go, or if she had to, to take her with her at the very least. Mommy had been steadfast in her decision, however, and well, you can probably guess how successful Arlynn had been in that endeavor. Wally was nice, much nicer than Linda, and Arlynn liked him enough, but she didn't _know_ him, not really.


End file.
